
Glass H> \ "]<&%? 
Book «i\3 



I 



/ 

THE 



GOSPEL-MYSTERY g£ 

OF 

SANCTIFICATION, 

OPENED, 

IN SUNDRY PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS: 



OITED ESPECIALLY TO THE CASE OF THOSE WHO LABOR ONDER 
THE GUILT AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED 

A SERMON ON JUSTIFICATION. 



BY MR. WALTER MARSHALL, 

LATE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL. 



i Ood hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise 
and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things 
which are raightv," &c— 1 Cor. i. 27-31. ° 



NEW YORK: 

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 

No. 530 BROADWAY. 

18697" 



*!* 



b^ 



"3 



^ 



iah/4 1909 



1 



CONTENTS. 



DIRECTION I 

PAGE 

To perform duties required in the law, first, learn the effect- 
ual means to attain so great an end, . . . . 1*1 

DIRECTION" II. 

Four endowments and qualifications necessary : 1. An in- 
clination and propensity of heart thereunto. 2. A per- 
suasion of our reconciliation with God. 3. A persuasion 
of our enjoyment of everlasting happiness. 4. A persua- 
sion of sufficient strength both to will and perform duties 
acceptably, 28 

DIRECTION III. 

The way to get these endowments to enable us for practice, 
is, to receive them from Christ's fulness, by union and fel- 
lowship with him, . . . . . . . . 42 

DIRECTION IV. 

The means or instruments of this union, and all fellowship, 
are, the Gospel, and faith. What faith is, 65 

DIRECTION V. 

We cannot attain holiness by our endeavors in a natural 
state, without union and fellowship with Christ, . .80 

DIRECTION VI. 

Those that endeavor sincere obedience, as the condition to 
procure a right and title to salvation and as a ground to 
trust on Christ, do seek salvation, by the works of the law, 94 

DIRECTION VII. 

We are not to imagine that our hearts and lives must be 
changed from sin to holiness in any measure, before we 
may trust on Christ, 122 



IV CONTENTS. 

DIRECTION VIII. 

PAGE 

Seek for holiness, only in its due order, after union, justifi- 
cation, and the gift of the Holy Ghost ; and by faith, . 1 34 

DIRECTION IX. 

We must first receive the comforts of the Gospel, that we 
may perform the duties of the law, . . . . .141 

DIRECTION X. 

That we may, by gospel comforts, perform duties of the 
law, we must get assurance in that very faith whereby 
we receive Christ, . 15 1 

DIRECTION XL 

Believe on Christ in a right manner without delay, and then 
continue and increase in faith, that so enjoyment of Christ, 
and union and fellowship with him, and all holiness by 
him may be begun, continued, and increased, . . .180 

DIRECTION XII. 

Diligently use faith for performance of the duties of the law, 
by walking no longer according to your old-state princi- 
ples, or means of practice ; but only according to that new 
state you receive by faith, and its principles and means of 
practice, 210 

DIRECTION XIII. 

Make a right use of all means appointed in the Word for ob- 
taining and practising holiness, only in this way of believ- 
ing and walking in Christ according to your new state, . 241 

DIRECTION XIV. 

That you may thus seek holiness only by believing and walk- 
ing in Christ, take encouragement from the great advan- 
tages of this way and the excellent properties of it, . 282 

The Sermon on Justification, 296 






PREFACE, 



Reader, 

Mr. Walter Marshall, composer of these directions 
how to attain to that practice and manner of life, which we 
call holiness, righteousness or godliness, was educated in 
New College of Oxford, and was a fellow of the said col- 
lege ; and afterwards he was chosen a fellow of the college 
of Winchester : but was put under the Bartholomew Bushel, 
with near two thousand more lights, (a sin not yet repented 
of,) whose illuminations made the land a Goshen. He was 
esteemed a Presbyterian ; and was called to be pastor to a 
people at Gosport in Hampshire, where he shined, though 
he had not the public oil. The substance of these medita- 
tions was there spun out of his own experiences ; he having 
been much exercised with troubled thoughts, and that for 
many years, and had, by many mortifying methods, sought 
peace of conscience; but, notwithstanding all, his troubles 
still increased. Whereupon he consulted others, particularly 
Mr. Baxter, whose writings he had been much conversant 
with ; who thereupon told Mr. Marshall, he took them too 
legally. He afterwards consulted an eminent divine, Dr. 
T. G., giving him an account of the state of his soul, and 
particularizing his sins, which lay heavy on his conscience ; 
who, in his reply, told him, he had forgot to mention the 
greatest sin of all, the sin of unbelief, in not believing on 
the Lord Jesus for the remission of his sins, and sanctifying 
his nature. Hereupon he set himself to the studying and 
preaching Christ, and attained to eminent holiness, great 
peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Mr. Mar- 
shall's dying words were these, " The wages of sin is death, 
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our 
1* 



VI PREFACE. 

Lord;" having but just before said to those about him, 
" That he now died in the full persuasion of the truth, and, 
in the comfort of that doctrine which he had preached ;" — 
the sum whereof is contained in the ensuing discourse. 

Some time since, he was translated by death, Elijah-like, 
dropping these sheets as his mantle for succeeding Elishas 
to go forth with, for the conversion of sinners, and comfort 
of drooping souls. 

These papers are the profound experiences of a studious 
holy soul, learned of the Father, coming from his very heart; 
and smell of no party or design, but for holiness and hap- 
piness. Yet it is to be feared, they will scarcely go down 
with the heady notionalists of this age, who are of the 
tribe of Reuben, wavering with every wind of modish doc- 
trine ; but in Judah they will be praised. And we hope 
that many shrubs and cedars may hereby advance in knowl- 
edge and comfort. But, not to detain you longer, read 
over all these directions, that you may fully understand the 
author, or read none. If you do it with the serious hum- 
ble spirit in which they were wrote, it may be hoped, (the 
matter being so weighty, and from so able a hand) through 
the grace of God, they will sink into thy conscience, and 
make thee a solid Christian, full of faith, holiness, and con- 
solation. 

N. N. 

July 21, 1692. 



The author of these directions was well known to me, 
and was with me in my house a month together, above 
twenty years past ; and I esteem him a person deserving 
the character which this preface giveth him. 

T. Woodcock. 

July 21, 1692. 



RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE, 



ALEX. HAMILTON, EBENEZER ERSKINE, RALPH ERSKINE, 
J. WARDLAW, JO. GIB, AND JA. OGILVIE. 



[Prefixed to the Edition printed at Edinburgh, Anno 1733.] 

This excellent treatise of Mr. Marshall's, though it be 
well known among- the godly in England, where it has 
undergone a twofold edition ; yet, this being the first time 
of its publication in Scotland, where it is but known to a 
few, we could not refuse, at the desire of those concerned 
in the publication of it among us, to declare, th^tt, as we 
have perused the book ourselves with great edification and 
pleasure, so we know it hath had the high approbation and 
testimony of many eminent for grace and holiness ; and 
judge the publication of it at this time of day seasonable 
among us, for promoting practical religion and godliness, 
and for giving a just view of the vast odds there is betwixt 
heathenish morality, adorned with the finest flourishes of 
human rhetoric, and true Gospel holiness, without which no 
man shall see the Lord. And this our testimony we judg- 
ed to be well supported by the words of that great and 
evangelic person, Mr. Robert Traill, late minister of the 
Gospel in the city of London, in his postscript to a pamph 
let, entitled, A vindication of the Protestant doctrine concern- 
ing justification^ and of its preachers and professors, from the 
unjust charge of Antinomianism. " I think (says he) that 
Dr. Owen's excellent book of Justification, and Mr. Mar- 
shall's book of the Mystery of Sanctification by faith in 
Jesus Christ, are such vindications and confirmations of 
the Protestant doctrine, against which I fear no effectual 



Viii RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE. 

opposition. Mr. Marshall was a holy and retired per* 

son, and is only known to the most of us by his book lately 
published. The book is a deep, practical, well-jointed dis- 
course, and requires a more than ordinary attention in rend- 
ing of it with profit. And, if it be singly used, I look upon 
it as one of the most useful books the world hath seen for 
many years. Its excellence is, that it leads the serious 
reader directly to Jesus Christ, and cuts the sinews and 
overturns the foundation of the new divinity by the same 
argument of Gospel holiness by which many attempt to 
overturn the old. And, as it hath already had the seal of 
high approbation by many judicious Ministers and Chris- 
tians that have read it; so I fear not but it will stand firm 
as a rock against all opposition, and will prove good seed, 
and food, and light to many hereafter." This testimony, 
abstracting from human frailties and escapes, to which the 
greatest men are liable while they know but in part, we 
homologate by our subscriptions. 



A RECOMMENDATION, 



THE REV. MR. ADAM GIB, 

MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN THE ASSOCIATE CONGREGATION OP 
EDINBURGH. 



Though the due recommendations foregoing, wherewith 
these following directions have been formerly sent abroad, 
be what 1 pretend not to add any weight unto by my assent; 
there seems not, however, anything superfluous, in apply- 
ing, unto two sorts of persons, an advice which hath been 
already given, with respect to the reading of this book. 

Among the professors of a religious course, some do still 
adhere unto a legal scheme of holiness, vainly making it the 
reason of their peace and hope, or, at least, of their ventur- 
ing to found both on Christ ; and others are reconciled unto 
an evangelical scheme of holiness, verily making it the re- 
sult of their peace and hope, as already founded on Christ, 
freely offered to them in the Gospel. 

The correction which one of these sorts, and the instruc- 
tion in righteousness which both of them need, may be pe- 
culiarly gained from this book : and, for these purposes, they 
are earnestly entreated to peruse it completely, and in the 
same order wherein written : so that the one sort may not, 
from looking first into the latter part thereof, throw it aside 
as Antinomian ; nor the other sort, from looking only into 
the former part, throw it aside as legal. 

In fine, whereas I have scarcely ever been acquainted with 
any practical composure, of human product, so evangelical, 
in a thread more connect, and a method more exact, than 
this: I equally despair, that any shall reap true benefit, in a 
partial and confused reading; and hope, that excellent fruit 



X A RECOMMENDATION. 

shall, through the divine blessing, redound therefrom, unto 
such as may read it otherwise. 

To proceed thus far in compliance with the inclination 
of some gentlemen concerned in this Edition, is presumed 
by 

Adam Gib. 

Edinburgh, Dec. 31, 1744. 



TO THE BOOKSELLER. 



Sir :— 

It gives me no small pleasure to hear, that you are going 
to republish Mr. Marshall's Gospel-Mystery of Sanclifica- 
tion* The instruction, consolation, and spiritual improve- 
ment, which I myself have received from that solid and 
judicious treatise, excite in me a pleasing hope, that it may 
be equally instructive and advantageous to others. 

The recommendation of it in T heron and Aspasio, with 
which you propose to introduce the new edition, is at your 
service. To this proposal I consent the more readily, be- 
cause Mr. Marshall's book may be looked upon as no im- 
proper supplement to those dialogues and letters, the author 
of which intended to have closed his plan, with a dissertation 
on practical holiness, or evangelical obedience. But this 
design was dropped : partly, on account of his very declin- 
ing health ; partly, because the work swelled under his hands, 
far beyond his expectation. 

He has been advised, once more to resume the pen ; and 
treat that grand subject, with some degree of copiousness 
and particularity. If he should be enabled to execute, what 
he acknowledges to be expedient, the doctrines already dis- 
cussed, and the privileges already displayed, will furnish 
the principal materials for his essay. Justification, free 
justification, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, is 
the sacred fleece from which he would spin his thread, 
and weave his garment; agreeably to that important text, 
Ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God.j — If 

* It is said, by the very best judge of propriety in sacred writing, Great 
is the mystery of godliness, 1 Tim. iii. 16. This passage, I presume, Mr. 
Marshall had in his view, when he pitched upon a title for his book. And 
this passage will render it superior to all censure, unexceptionally just and 
proper. 

t 1 Cor. vi. 20. 



Xll TO THE BOOKSELLER. 

Providence, in all things wise, and in all things gracious, 
should see fit to withhold either time or ability for the 
accomplishment of my purpose, I do, by these presents, 
nominate and depute Mr. Marshall, to supply my lack of 
service. 

Mr. Marshall expresses my thoughts; he prosecutes my 
scheme ; and not only pursues the same end, but proceeds 
in the same way. I shall therefore rejoice in the prospect 
of having the Gospel-Mystery of Sanclification stand as a 
fourth volume to Theron and Aspasio. Might I be allow- 
ed, without the charge of irreverence, to use the beautiful 
images of an inspired writer, I could with great satisfaction 
say, If this be a wall, that will build upon it a palace of 
ivory : if this be a door, that will enclose it with boards of 
cedar.* 

Mr. Marshall represents true holiness as consisting in the 
love of God, and the love of man: — that unforced, unfeign- 
ed, and most rational love of God, which arises from a dis- 
covery of his unspeakable mercy and infinite kindness to 
us ; that cordial, disinterested, and universal love of man, 
which flows from the possession of a satisfactory and de- 
lightful portion in the Lord Jehovah. These duties, of 
love to our Creator and our fellow-creatures, are regarded 
as the sum and substance of the moral law ; as the root 
from which all other branches of pure and undented religion 
spring. — Holiness, thus stated, is considered, not as the 
means, but as a part, a distinguished part of our salvation ; 
or rather, as the very central point, in_which all the means 
of grace, and all the ordinances of religion, terminate. 

Man in a natural state is absolutely incapable of practis- 
ing this holiness or enjoying this happiness. — If you ask, 
What is meant by a natural state '? It is that state, in which 
we are under the guilt of sin, and the curse of the law ; are 
subject to the power of Satan, and influenced by evil pro- 
pensities. From this state none are released, but by 

being united to Christ ; or, as the apostle speaks, by Christ 
dwelling in the heart through faith.] 

Faith, according to Mr. Marshall, is a real persuasion, 
that God is pleased to give Christ and his salvation ; to give 
him freely without any recommending qualifications, or pre- 
paratory conditions ; to give him, not to some sinners only, 
but to me a sinner in particular. — It is likewise an actual 

* Cant. viii. 9. t Eph. iii. 17. 



TO THF BOOKSELLER. Xlll 

receiving of Christ, with all the benefits, privileges, and 
promises of the Gospel ; in pursuance of the divine gift, and 
on no other warrant than the divine grant. — This last office 
is particularly insisted on, as an essential part, or as the 
principal act of faith, to perform which, there is no rational, 
no possible way; unless, as our author declares, we do in 
some measure, persuade and assure ourselves * that Christ 
and his salvation are ours. 

As faith is such a persuasion of the heart, and such a re- 
ception of Christ, it assures the soul of salvation by its own 
act ; antecedent to all reflection on its fruits or effects, on 
marks or evidences. — It assures the soul of acquittance 
from guilt, and reconciliation to God ; of a title to the ever- 
lasting inheritance, and of grace sufficient for every case of 

need. By the exercise of this faith and the enjoyment 

of these blessings, we are sanctified; conscience is pacified, 
and the heart purified ; we are delivered from the dominion 
of sin, disposed to holy tempers, and furnished for a holy 
practice. 

Here, I apprehend, our author will appear singular. This 
is the place in which he seems to go quite out of the com- 
mon road. The generality of serious people look upon 
these unspeakable blessings as the reward of holiness; to 
be received, after we have sincerely practised universal holi- 
ness ; not as necessary, previously necessary, to perform any 
act of true holiness. This is the stumbling-block, which 
our legal minds, dim with prejudice, and swollen with pride, 

will hardly get over. However, these endowments of 

our new state are, in our author's opinion, the effectual, 
and the only effectual expedient, to produce sanctification. 
They are the very method which the eternal Spirit has or- 
dained, for our bringing forth those fruits of righteousness, 
which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.j 

* It is not, by this expression, affirmed, or insinuated, that we are able 
to produce faith in ourselves, by any power of our own. This self-suffi- 
ciency the author has professedly and frequently disclaimed: asserting, 
that "the Spirit of God habitually disposes and inclines our hearts to a 
right performance of this most important act." — This manner of speak- 
ing is used, I imagine, for two reasons: To point out the first and chief 
work, which we are to be doing, incessantly and assiduously, till our Lord 
come: To remind us, that we must not expect to have faith wrought in 
us, by some fatality of supernatural operation, without any application or 
endeavor of our own ; but that we must make it our diligent endeavor, and 
our daily business, to believe in Christ. We must labor to niter into this rest) 
and show all diligence to attain to the full assurance of hope. 

t Phil. i. 11. 



XIV TO THE BOOKSELLER. 

Whereas, if there be any appearances of virtue, or any 

efforts of obedience which spring not from these motives 
and means of practice, Mr. Marshall treats them as " repro- 
bate silver." He cannot allow them the character of Gospel 
holiness. 

This is the plan, and these are the leading sentiments, 
of the ensuing treatise. To establish or defend them, is not 
my aim. This is attempted, and I think executed, in the 
work itself. My aim is, only to exhibit the most distin- 
guishing principles, in one short sketch, and clear point of 
view; that the reader may the more easily remember them, 
and by this key enter the more perfectly into the writer's 
meaning. — Let him that is spiritual* judge ; and reject or 
admit, as each tenet shall appear to correspond or disagree 
with the infallible Word. Only let candor, not rigor, fill the 
chair; and interpret an unguarded expression, or a seem- 
ingly inconsistent sentence, by the general tenor of the dis- 
course. 

We are not to expect much pathos of address, or any 
delicacy of composition. Here the Gospel diamond is set, 
not in gold, but in steel : not where it may display the most 
sprightly beam, or pour a flood of brilliancy; but where it 
may do the most signal service, and afford a fund of useful- 
ness. Neither is this book so particularly calculated for 
careless, insensible sinners, as for those who are awakened 
into a solicitous attention to their everlasting interests ; who 
are earnestly inquiring, with the Philippian jailer, What 
shall I do to be saved? f or passionately "crying, in the lan- 
guage of the apostle, O wretched man that I am I who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death ?J If there be any such, 
as no doubt there are many, in the Christian world, I would 
say with regard to them, as the Israelitish captive said con- 
cerning her illustrious but afflicted master, Would God my 
master were with the prophet that is in Samaria: for he 
would recover him of his leprosy. \ O that such persons were 
acquainted with the doctrines, and influenced by the direc- 
tions, contained in this treatise ! They would, under the 
divine blessing, recover them from their distress, and re- 
store them to tranquillity; they would comfort their hearts 
and thereby establish them in every good word and work.\\ 

But I am going to anticipate what the following extract 

* 1 Cor. ii. 15. t Acts xvi. 30. t Rom. Yii. 24. 

t 2 Kings v. 3. || 2 Thess. ii. 17. 



RECOMMENDATION IN THERON AND ASPASIO. XV 

speaks. I shall therefore only add my hearty wishes, that 
you may meet with encouragement and success in the pub- 
lication of this truly valuable piece. Since there is, in thia 
instance, an evident connection between your private inter- 
est and the general good, I think you may promise yourself 
the approbation and acceptance of the public ; as you will 
assuredly have all the support and assistance that can be 
given by, 

Sir, your humble servant, 

James Hervey. 
Weston Favel, near Northampton, 
Nov. 5, 1756. 



RECOMMENDATION IN THERON AND ASPASIO. 

" It is with great pleasure, and without any diffidence, 
that I refer my readers to Mr. Marshall's treatise on Sanc- 
tification. Which I shall not recommend in the style of a 
critic, nor like a person of taste, but with all the simplicity 
of the weakest Christian ; I mean, from my own experience. 
It has been made one of the most useful books to my own 
heart. I scare-' ever fail to receive spiritual consolation and 
strength from ;he perusal of it; and was I to be banished 
into some desolate island, possessed only of two books be- 
sides my Bible, this should be one of the two, perhaps the 
first that I would choose. 

" Should any person, hitherto a stranger to the work, 
purchase it on this recommendation, I must desire to sug- 
gest one caution. — That he be not surprised, if, in the be- 
ginning, he meets with something new, and quite out of 
the common road ; or, if surprised, that he would not be 
offended, but calmly and attentively proceed. — He will find 
the author's design opening itself by degrees. He will dis- 
cern more and more the propriety of his method. And 
what might, at the first view, appear like a stumbling-block, 
will prove to be a fair and ample avenue to the palace of 
truth, to the temple of holiness, and to the bowers of hap- 
piness." 

See the third edition of Hervky's Theron and Aspasio, vol. iii, page 
336. 



THE 



GOSPEL. MYSTERY 



SANCTIFICATION, 



DIRECTION I 

That we may acceptabl^ftej-form the duties of holiness and 
righteousness required in the law, our first work is, to learn the 
powerful and effectual means whereby we may attain to so great 
an end. 

EXPLICATION. 

This direction may serve, instead of a preface, to 
prepare the understanding and attention of the reader 
for those that follow. And, 

First, It acquainteth you with the great end for 
which all those means are designed, that are the prin- 
cipal subject to be here treated of. The scope of all 
is, to teach you how you may attain to that practice 
and manner of life which we call holiness, righteous- 
ness, or godliness, obedience, true religion ; and which 
God requires of us in the law, particularly in the 
moral law, summed up in the ten commandments, and 
more briefly in those two great commandments of love 
to God and our neighbor, Matt. xxii. 27, 39 ; and 
more largely explained throughout the Holy Scriptures. 
My work is, to show how the duties of this law may 

2* 



18 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

be done, when they are known ; therefore expect not 
that I should delay ray intent, to help you to the 
knowledge of them, by any large exposition of them ; 
which is a work already performed in several cate- 
chisms and commentaries. Yet, that you may not miss 
the mark for want of discerning it, take notice, in few 
words, that the holiness which I would bring you to, is 
spiritual, Rom. vii. 14. It consists not only in exter- 
nal works of piety and charity, but in the holy 
thoughts, imaginations, and affections of the soul, and 
chiefly in love ; from whence all other good works must 
flow, or else they are not acceptable to God ; not only 
in refraining the execution of sinful lusts, but in long- 
ing and delighting to do the will of God, and in a 
cheerful obedience to God, without repining, fretting, 
grudging, at any duty, as if it were a grievous yoke 
and burden to you. 

Take notice further, that the law, which is your 
mark, is exceeding broad, Ps. cxix. 96, and yet not 
the more easy to be hit ; because you must aim to hit 
it, in every duty of it, with a performance of equal 
breadth, or else you cannot hit it at all, James ii. 10. 
The Lord is not at all loved with that love that is due 
to him as Lord of all, if He be not loved with all our 
heart, spirit, and might. We are tojove everything in 
Him, His justice, holiness, sovereign authority, all-seeing 
eye, and all His decrees, commands, judgments, and all 
His doings. We are to love Him, not only better than 
other things, but singly, as only good, the fountain of 
all goodness ; jand to reject all fleshly and worldly en- 
joyments, even our own lives, as if we hated them, 
when they stand in competition with our enjoyment of 
Him, or our duty toward Him. We must love Him so 
as to yield ourselves wholly up to His constant service 
in all things, and to His disposal of us as our absolute 
Lord, whether it be for prosperity or adversity, life or 
death. And, for His sake, we are to love our neigh- 
bor, even all men, whether they be friends or foes to 



l] of sanctification. 19 

us ; and so do to them in all things, that concern their 
honor, life, chastity, worldly wealth, credit, and con- 
tent, whatever we would that men should do to us in 
the like condition, Matt. vii. 12. This spiritual uni- 
versal obedience is the great end, to the attainment 
whereof I am directing you. And that you may not 
reject my enterprise as impossible, observe, that the 
most I promise is no more than an acceptable perform- 
ance of these duties of the law, such as our gracious, 
merciful God will certainly delight in, and be pleased 
with, during our state of imperfection in this world, 
and such as will end in perfection of holiness, and all 
happiness in the world to come. 

Before I proceed further, stay your thoughts awhile 
in the contemplation of the great dignity and excel- 
lency of these duties of the law, that you may aim at 
the performance of them, as your end, with so high an 
esteem, as may cast an amiable lustre upon the ensu- 
ing discovery of the means. The principal duties of 
love to God above all, and to each other for His sake, 
from whence all the other duties flow, are so excellent, 
that I cannot imagine any more noble w r ork for the 
holy angels in their glorious sphere. They are the 
chief works for which we were at first framed in the 
image of God, engraven upon man in the first creation, 
and for which that beautiful image is renewed upon us 
in our new creation and sanctification by Jesus Christ, 
and shall be perfected in our glorification. They are 
works which depend not merely on the sovereignty of 
the will of God, to be commanded or forbidden, or left 
indifferent, or changed, or abolished, at His pleasure, as 
other works that belong either to the judicial or cere- 
monial law, or to the means of salvation prescribed by 
the Gospel; but they are, in their own nature, holy, 
just, and good, Rom. vii. 12, and meet for us to per- 
form, because of our natural relation to our Creator 
and fellow-creatures ; so that they have an inseparable 
dependence upon the holiness of the will of God, and 



20 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

an indispensable establishment thereby. They are 
works sufficient to render the performers holy in all 
manner of conversation, by the fruits which they bring 
forth, if no other duties had ever been commanded ; 
and by which, the performance of all other duties is 
sufficiently established as soon as they are command- 
ed ; and without which, there can be no holiness of 
heart and life imagined ; and to which, it was one great 
honor of Mosaical, and is now of Evangelical ordi- 
nances, to be subservient for the performance of them, 
as means which shall cease when their end, this never- 
failing charity, is perfectly attained, 1 Cor. xiii. They 
are duties which we were naturally obliged to, by that 
reason and understanding, which God gave to man at 
his first creation, to discern what was just and meet for 
him to do, and to which even heathens are still obliged 
by the light of nature, without any written law, or 
supernatural revelation, Rom. ii. 14, 15. Therefore 
they are called natural religion ; and the law that re- 
quires them, is called the natural law, and also the 
moral law ; because the manners of all men, infidels as 
well as Christians, ought to be conformed to it, (and, 
if they had been fully conformable, they would not 
have come short of eternal happiness, Matt. v. 19, 
Luke x. 27, 28 ;) under the penalty of the wrath of 
God for the violation of it. This is the true morality 
which God approves of, consisting in a conformity of 
all our actions to the moral law. And, if those who, 
in these days, contend so highly for morality, un- 
derstand no other than this, I dare join with them in 
asserting, that the best morally honest man is the 
greatest saint ; and that morality is the principal 
part of true religion, and the test of all other parts, 
without which faith is dead, and all other religious per- 
formances are a vain show, and mere hypocrisy : for 
the faithful and true Witness has testified, concerning 
the two great moral commandments of love to God, 
and our neighbor, that there is no other commandment 



I.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 21 

greater than these, and that on them hang all the law 
and the prophets, Matt. xxii. 36, 38, 39, 40. Mark 
xii. 31. 

The second thing contained in this introductory di- 
rection, is the necessity of learning the powerful and 
effectual means, whereby this great and excellent end 
may be accomplished, and of making this the first work 
to be done, before we can expect success in any at- 
tempt for the attainment of it. 

This is a very needful premonition : because many 
are apt to skip over the lesson concerning the means 
(that will fill up this whole treatise) as superfluous and 
useless. When once they know the nature and excel- 
lency of the duties of the law, they account nothing 
wanting but diligent performance ; and they rush 
blindly upon immediate practice, making more haste 
than good speed. They are quick in promising, Exod. 
xix. 8 — all that the Lord hath spoken, we will do — -with- 
out sitting down, and counting the cost. They look 
upon holiness as only the means of an end, eternal sal- 
vation ; not as an end itself, requiring any great means 
for attaining the practice of it. The inquiry of most, 
when they begin to have a sense of religion, is, What 
good thing shall I do, that I mag have eternal life ? 
Matt. xix. 16, not, How shall I be enabled to do any- 
thing that is good ? Yea, many who are accounted 
powerful preachers, spend all their zeal in earnestly 
pressing •the immediate practice of the law, without 
any discovery of the effectual means of performance ; 
as if the works of righteousness were like those servile 
employments that need no skill and artifice at all, but 
industry and activity. That you may not stumble at 
the threshold of a religious life by this common over- 
sight, I shall endeavor to make you sensible, that it is 
not enough for you to know the matter and reason of 
your duty, but that you are also to learn the powerful 
and effectual means of performance, before you can 
successfully apply 3^ourselves to immediate practice. 



22 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [mREOT. 

And, for this end, I shall lay before you the considera- 
tions following. 

First, We are all, by nature, void of all strength and 
ability to perform acceptably that holiness and right- 
eousness which the law requires, and are dead in Ires- 
passes and sins, and children of wrath, by the sin of 
our first father Adam, as the Scripture witnesses, Rom. 
v, 12, 15, 18, 19. Eph. ii. 1, 2, 3. Rom. viii. 7, 8. 
This doctrine of original sin, winch Protestants gener- 
ally profess, is a firm basis and groundwork to the as- 
sertion now to be proved, and to many other assertions 
in this whole discourse. If we believe it to be true, we 
cannot rationally encourage ourselves to attempt a holy 
practice, until we are acquainted with some powerful 
and effectual means to enable us for it. While man 
continued upright, in the image of God, as he was at 
first created, Eccl. vii. 19, Gen. i. 27, he could do the 
will of God sincerely as soon as he knew it; but, when 
he was fallen, he was quickly afraid, because of his 
nakedness ; but could not help it at all, until God dis- 
covered to him the means of restoration, Gen. hi. 10, 
15. Say to a strong healthy servant, Go, and he go- 
eth ; come, and he cometh ; do this, and he doeth it ; 
but a bed-ridden servant must know first how he may 
be enabled. No doubt the fallen angels know the ne- 
cessity of holiness, and tremble at the guilt of their 
sin ; but they know of no means for them to attain to 
holiness effectually, and so continue still in their wicked- 
ness. It was in vain for Samson to say, / will go out 
as at other times before, and shake myself, when he had 
sinned away his strength, Judges xvi. 20. Men show 
themselves strangely forgetful or hypocritical, in pro- 
fessing original sin in their prayers, catechisms, and 
confessions of faith ; and yet urging upon themselves 
and others the practice of the law, without the con- 
sideration of any strengthening, enlivening means ; as 
if there were no want of ability, but only of activity. 

Secondly, Those that doubt of, or deny the doctrine 



1.1 OF SANCTIFICATION. 23 

of original sin, may all of them know concerning them- 
selves, (if their conscience be not blind,) that the exact 
justice of God is against them, and they are under the 
curse of God, and sentence of death, for their actual 
sins, if God should enter into judgment with them, 
Rom. i. 32, ii. 2, and iii. 9, Gal iii. 10. Is it possible 
for a man who knows this to be his case, and has not 
learned any means of getting out of it, to practise the 
law immediately, to love God and everything in Him, 
His justice, holiness, power, as well as His mercy, and 
to yield himself willingly to the disposal of God, though 
God should inflict sudden death upon him ? Is there 
no skill or artifice at all required in this case, to en- 
courage the fainting soul to the practice of universal 
obedience ? 

Thirdly, Though heathens might know much of the 
work of the law, by the common light of natural rea- 
son and understanding, Rom. ii. 14, yet the effectual 
means of performance cannot be discovered by that 
light, and therefore are to be wholly learned by the 
teaching of supernatural revelation. For what is our 
natural light, but some sparks and glimmerings of that 
which was in Adam before the fall ? and, even then, 
in its brightest meridian, it was not sufficient to direct 
Adam how to recover ability to walk holily, if once he 
should lose it by sin ; nor to assure him beforehand, that 
God would vouchsafe to him any means of recovery. 
God had set nothing but death before his eyes in case 
of transgression, Gen. ii. 17 ; and therefore he hid 
himself from God, when the shame of his nakedness 
appeared, as expecting no favor from Him. We are 
like sheep gone astray, and know not which way to 
return, until we hear the shepherd's voice. Can these 
dry bones live to God in holiness ? O Lord, Thou 
knowest, and we cannot know it, except we learn it of 
Thee. 

Fourthly, Salification, whereby our hearts and 
lives are conformed to the law, is a grace of God com- 



24 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

municated to us byjrieans, as well as justification ; and 
by means of teaching, and learning something that we 
cannot see without the Word, Acts xxvi. 17, 18. There 
are several things pertaining to life and godliness, that 
are given through knowledge, 2 Pet. i. 2, 3. There is 
u form of doctrine made use of by God, to make people 
Tee from sin, and servants of righteousness, Rom vi. 
17, 18. And there are several pieces of the whole 
armor of God necessary to be known and put on, that 
we may stand against sin and Satan in the evil day, 
Eph. vi. 13. Shall we slight and overlook the way of 
sanctification, when the learning the way of justifi- 
cation has been accounted worth so many elaborate 
treatises ? 

Fifthly, God has given in the Holy Scriptures, by 
His inspiration, plentiful instruction in righteousness, 
thai we may be thoroughly furnished for every good 
work, 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17 ; especially since the day-spring 
from on high hath visited us, by the appearance of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, to guide our feet in the way of 
peace, Luke i. 78, 79. If God condescend to us so 
very low, to teach us this way in the Scriptures, and 
by Christ, it must needs be greatly necessary for us, to 
sit down at His feet, and learn it. — 

Sixthly, The way of attaining to godliness is so far 
from being known without learning out of the Holy 
Scriptures, that, when it is here plainly revealed, we 
cannot learn it so easily as the duties of the law ; which 
are known in part by the light of nature, and therefore 
the more easily assented to. It is the way whereby 
the dead are brought to live unto God ; and therefore 
doubtless it is far above all the thoughts and conjec- 
tures of human wisdom. It is the way to salvation, 
wherein God will destroy the wisdom, of the wise, and 
bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent, by 
discovering things by His Spirit that the natural man 
receiveth not ; for they are foolishness to him, neither 
can he know them, because they are spiritually dis- 



I.] OF SAXCTIFTCATION. 25 

cerned, 1 Cor. i. 19, 31, and ii. 14. Without contro- 
versy, great is the mystery of godliness, 1 Tim. iii. 16. 
The learning of it requires double work ; because we 
must unlearn many of our former deeply-rooted no- 
tions, and become fools, that we may be wise. We 
must pray earnestly to the Lord, to teach us, as well 
as search the Scriptures that we may get this knowl- 
edge. " that my ways were directed to keep Thy 
statutes ! Teach me, Lord, the way of Thy statutes, 
and I shall keep it unto the end," Ps. cxix. 5, 33. 
" Teach me to do thy will," Ps. cxliii. 10. " The Lord 
direct your hearts into the love of God," 2 Thess. iii. 5. 
Surelv these saints did not so much want teaching and 
direction concerning the duties of the law to be done, 
as concerning the way and means whereby they might 
do them. 

Seventhly, The certain knowledge of these powerful 
and effectual means, is of the greatest importance and 
necessity for our establishment in the true faith, and 
avoiding errors contrary thereto ; for we cannot ration- 
ally doubt that the moral duties of love to God and 
our neighbor, are absolutely necessary to true religion, 
so that it cannot subsist without them. And, from this 
principle we may firmly conclude, that nothing repug- 
nant to the practice of these holy duties, ought to be 
received as a point of faith delivered to us by the most 
holy God ; and that whatsoever is truly necessary, 
powerful, and effectual to bring us to the practice of 
them, ought to be believed as proceeding from God, 
because it has the image of His holiness and righteous- 
ness engraven upon it. This is a sure test and touch- 
stone, which those who are seriously religious will use, 
to try spirits and their doctrines, whether they be of 
God, or not ; and they cannot rationally approve any 
doctrine as religious, that is not according to godliness, 
1 Tim. vi. 3. By this touchstone Christ proves His 
doctrine to be of God, because therein He seeks the 
glory of God, John vii. 17, 18. And He teaches us 



26 THE GQSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

to know false prophets by their fruits, Matt. vii. 15. 16, 
wherein the fruits which their doctrine tends unto, are 
especially to be considered. Hence it appears, that, 
until we know what are the effectual means of holiness, 
and what not, we want a necessary touchstone of di- 
vine truth, and may be easily deceived by false doc- 
trine, or brought to live in mere suspense concerning 
the truth of any religion, like the seekers. And, if you 
mistake, and think those means to be effectual that are 
not, and those that are effectual to be weak, or of a 
contrary effect, your error in this will be a false touch- 
stone to try other doctrines, whereby you will readily 
approve of errors, and refuse the truth ; which has 
been a pernicious occasion of many errors in religion in 
late days. Get but a true touchstone, by learning 
this lesson, and you will be able to try the various doc- 
trines of Protestants, Papists, Arminians, Socinians, 
Antinomians, Quakers ; and to discover the truth, and 
cleave to it, with much satisfaction to yonr judgment, 
amongst all the janglings and controversies of these 
times. Hereby you may discover whether the Protes- 
tant religion established among us, have in it any sinews 
of Antinomianism; whether it be guilty of any insuf- 
ferable defect in practical principles, and deserves to 
be altered, and turned almost upside down, with new 
doctrines and methods ; as some learned men in late 
times have judged by their touchstones. 

Eighthly, It is also of great importance and necessity 
for our establishment in holy practice ; for we cannot 
apply ourselves to the practice of holiness, with hope 
of success, except we have some faith concerning the 
divine assistance ; which we have no ground to expect, 
if we use not such means as God has appointed to 
"srork by. " God meeteth them that remember Him in 
His own ways," Isa. lxiv. 5 ; and makes a breach upon 
them that seek Him not after the due order, 1 Chron. 
xv. 13. He has chosen and ordained such means of 
sanctificathn and salvation as are for His own glory, 



I."] OF SANCTIFICATION. . 27 

and those only He blesses to us ; and he crowns no 
man that strives, except he strive lawfully, 2 Tim. ii. 5. 
Experience shows plentifully, both of heathens and 
Christians, how pernicious ignorance, or mistaking of 
those effectual means, is to a holy practice. The 
heathens generally fell short of an acceptable perform- 
ance of those duties of the law which they knew, be- 
cause of their ignorance in this point. (1.) Many Chris- 
tians content themselves with external performances, 
because they never knew how they might attain to 
spiritual service. (2.) And many reject the way of 
holiness as austere and unpleasant, because they know 
not how to cut off a right hand, or pluck out a right 
eye, without intolerable pain ; whereas, they would 
find the ways of wisdom, (if they knew them) to be 
ways of pleasantness, and all her /paths to be peace, 
Prov. iii. 17. This occasions the putting off repent- 
ance from time to time as an uncouth thing. (3.) Many 
others set upon the practice of holiness with a fervent 
zeal, and run very fast ; but tread not a step in the 
right way ; and, finding themselves frequently disap- 
pointed and overcome by their lusts, they at last give 
over the work, and turn to wallow again in the mire : 
which has occasioned several treatises, to show how 
far a reprobate may go in the way of religion ; whereby 
many weak saints are discouraged, accounting that 
these reprobates have gone further than themselves ; 
whereas most of them never knew the right way, nor 
trod one step aright in it; for, few there be that find it, 
Matt. vii. 14. (4.) Some of those ignorant zealots do 
in humanly macerate their bodies with fasting and 
other austerities, to kill their lusts; and, when they 
see their lusts are still too hard for them, they fall into 
despair, and are driven, by horror of conscience, to 
make 'away with themselves wickedly, to the scandal 
of religion. Perad venture God may bless my discovery 
of the powerful means of holiness so far, as to save 
some one or other from killing himself. And such a 



28 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

fruit as this would countervail my labor; though 1 
hope God will enlarge the hearts of many by it, to 
run with great cheerfulness, joy, and thanksgiving, in 
the ways of His commandments. 



DIRECTION II. 

Several endowments and qualifications are necessary to enable 
us for the immediate practice of the law. Particularly, we must 
have an inclination and propensity of our hearts thereunto ; and 
therefore we must be well persuaded of our reconciliation with 
God, and of our future enjoyment of the everlasting heavenly 
happiness, and of sufficient strength both to will and perform all 
duties acceptably, until we come to the enjoyment of that hap- 
piness. 

EXPLICATION. 

Those means that are next to the attainment of the 
great end aimed at, are first to be discovered, that w r e 
may learn how to get them by other means, expressed 
in the following directions. Therefore I have named 
here several qualifications and endowments that are 
necessary to make up that holy frame and state of the 
soul, whereby it is furnished and enabled to practice 
the law immediately ; and that not only in the begin- 
ning, but in the continuation of that practice. And 
therefore, note diligently that these* endowments must 
continue in us during the present life, or else our ability 
for a holy life will be lost; and they must be before 
practice ; not in any distance of time, but only as the 
cause is before the effect. I do not say, that I have 
named particularly all such necessary qualifications ; 
but this much I dare say, that he who gains these, 
may, by the same means, gain any other that should 



II.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 29 

be ranked with them : and this is a matter worthy of 
our serious consideration ; for few understand that any 
special endowments are required to furnish us for a 
holy practice, more than for other voluntary actions. 
The first Adam had excellent endowments bestowed 
upon him for a holy practice, when he was first created 
according to the image of God ; and the second Adam 
had endowments more excellent, to enable him for a 
harder task of obedience. And, seeing obedience is 
grown more difficult by reason of the opposition and 
temptations that it meets with since the fall of Adam, 
we that are to be imitators of Christ, have need of 
very choice endowments, as Christ had ; at least as 
good or something better than Adam had at first, as 
our work is harder than his. What king going to 
make war against another king, sitteth not down Jirst, 
and consulteth whether he be able, with ten thousand, to 
meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? 
And shall we dare to rush into battle against all the 
powers of darkness, all worldly terrors and allurements, 
and our own inbred domineering corruptions, without 
considering whether we have sufficient spiritual furni- 
ture to stand in the evil day ? Yet many content 
themselves with such an ability to will and do their 
duty, as they would have to be given to men univer- 
sally ; whereby they are no better enabled for the spirit- 
ual battle, than the generality of the world, that lie 
vanquished under the wicked one ; and therefore their 
standing is not at all secured by it. It is a hard mat- 
ter to find what this universal ability is, that so many 
contend so earnestly for, of what it consisteth, by what 
means it is conveyed to us, and maintained. 

Bodily agility has spirits, nerves, ligaments, bones 
to subsist by ; but this spiritual, universal ability seems 
to be some occult quality, that no sufficient account 
can be given how it is conveyed, or of what it is con- 
stituted. That none may deceive themselves, and mis- 
tarry in their enterprises for holiness, by depending on 
3* 



30 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

such a weak, occult quality, I have here showed four 
endowments, of which a true ability for the practice 
of holiness must necessarily be constituted, and by 
which it must subsist and be maintained : I intend to 
show afterwards, by what means they are given to us, 
and whether the inclination or propensity here men- 
tioned be perfect or imperfect. And they are of such 
a mysterious nature, that some who own the necessity 
of endowments to frame them for holiness, are prone 
to think that less than these will serve ; and that some 
of these frame us rather for licentiousness than holi- 
ness, as they are here placed before any actual perform- 
ance of the moral law ; and that some things contrary 
to them would put us into a better frame for holiness. 
Against all such surmises, I shall endeavor such a dem- 
onstration of these endowments particularly, as may 
gain the assent of right reason ; insisting on them in 
the same order wherein I have placed them in the 
direction. 

In the first place, I assert, that an inclination and 
propensity of heart to the duties of the law, is neces- 
sary to frame and enable us for the immediate practice 
of them. And I mean not such a blind propensity as 
inanimate creatures and brutes have to their naturaj 
operations, but such a one as is meet for intelligent 
creatures, whereby they are, by the guidance of reason, 
prone and bent to approve and choose their duty, and 
averse to the practice of sin. And therefore I have 
intimated, that the three other endowments mentioned 
in the direction, are subservient to this as the chief of 
all, which is sufficient to make it a rational propensity. 
This is contrary to those, who, out of zeal for obe- 
dience, but not according to knowl ;dge, contend so 
earnestly for free will as a necessary and sufficient en- 
dowment to enable us to perform our duty, when once 
we are convinced of it, and of our obligation to it ; and 
who extol this endowment as the great benefit that 



II.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 31 

universal redemption has blessed all mankind with; 
though they consider this free will without any actual 
inclination to good ; yea, they cannot but acknowledge, 
that, in most of mankind that have it, it is encumbered 
with an actual bent and propensity of the heart alto- 
gether to evil. Such a free will as this is, can never 
free us from slavery to sin and Satan, and fit us for the 
practice of the law ; and therefore is not worthy the 
pains of those that contend so hotly for it. Neither is 
the will so free as is necessary for the practice of holi- 
ness, until it be endued with an inclination and pro- 
pensity thereunto ; as may appear by the following 
arguments. 

First, The duties of the law are of such a nature, 
that they cannot possibly be performed while there is 
wholly an aversion or mere indifference of the heart 
to the performance of them, and no good inclination 
and propensity toward the practice of them : because 
the chief of all the commandments is, to love the Lord 
with our whole heart, might, and soul ; to love every- 
thing that is in Him, to love His will, and all His ways, 
and to like them as good. And all duties must be in- 
fluenced, in their performance, by this love : we must 
delight to do the will of God ; it must be sweeter to 
us than the honey or honey-comb, Ps. xl. 8, Job 
xxiii. 12, Ps. lxiii. 1, cxix. 20, and xix. 10. And this 
love, liking, delight, longing, thirsting, sweet relishing, 
must be continued to the end ; and the first indeliber- 
ate motion of lust must be regulated by love to God 
and our neighbor ; and sin must be lusted against, Gal, 
v. 17, and abhorred, Ps. xxxvi. 4. If it were true 
obedience, (as some would have it,) to love our duty 
only as a market man loves foul ways to the market, 
or as a sick man loves an unpleasant medicinal potion, 
or as a captive slave loves his hard work for fear of a 
greater evil ; then it might be performed with averse- 
ness, or want of inclination ; but we must love it, as the 
market man gain, as the sick man health, as pleasant 



32 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

meat and tlrink, as the captive liberty. Doubtless 
there can be no power in the will for this kind of serv- 
ice, without an agreeableness of our inclination to the 
will of God, a heart according to His own heart, an 
aversion of our hearts from sin, and a kind of antipathy 
against sin : for we know the proverb, " Like loveth 
like." There must be an agreeableness in the person 
or thing beloved, to the disposition of the lover. Love 
to God must flow from a pure heart, 1 Tim. i. 5, a 
heart cleansed from evil propensities and inclinations. 
And reason will tell us, that the first motions of lust, 
which fall not under our choice and deliberation, can- 
not be avoided without a fixed propensity of the heart 
to holiness. 

Secondly, The image of God (wherein God accord- 
ing to his infinite wisdom, judged it meet to frame the 
first Adam in righteousness, and true holiness, and up- 
rightness, Gen. i. 27, Eph. iv. 24, Eccles. vii. 29,) con- 
sisted in an actual bent and propensity of heart to the 
practice of holiness ; not in a mere power of will to 
choose good or evil : for this, in itself, is neither holy 
nor unholy, but only a ground work, on which either 
the image of God, or of Satan, may be drawn : nor in 
an indifference of propensity to the choice of sin or 
duty ; for this is a wicked disposition in an intelligent 
creature, that knows his duty, and fits us only to halt 
between God and Baal. God set Adam's soul at first 
wholly in a right bent and inclination, though Adam 
might act contrary to it, if he would ; as we may be 
ural inclinations : and it is easy to fail of our duty, 
prevailed upon to do some things contrary to our nat- 
though great preparation and furniture be required for 
the performance of it. The second Adam also, the 
Lord Jesus Christ, was born a holy thing, Luke i. 35, 
with a holy disposition of His soul, and propensity to 
goodness. And can we reasonably hope to arise to 
the life of holiness from which the first Adam fell, or 
to be imitators of Christ, since duty is made so difficult 



II.] OF SANCTIFIUATION. 33 

by the fall, if we be not renewed in a measure accord- 
ing to the same image of God, and enabled with such 
a propensity and inclination ? 

Thirdly, Original corruption (whereby we are dead 
to God and godliness from the birth, and made willing 
slaves to the performance of all actual sins, until the 
Son of God make us free,) consists in a propensity and 
inclination of the heart to sin, and averseness to holi- 
ness. Without this propensity to sin, what can that 
law of sin in our members be, that warreth against the 
law of our mind, and leadeth us captive to the service of 
sin? Rom. vii. 23. What is that poison in us, for 
which men may be called serpents, vipers? What is 
that spirit of whoredoms in men, by reason of which 
they will not frame their doings to turn to God ? Hos. 
v. 4. How is the tree first corrupt, and then its fruit 
corrupt ? Matt. xii. 33. How can man be said to be 
abominable and filthy, that drinketh iniquity like water ? 
Job xv. 16. How should the mind of the flesh be con- 
tinual enmity to the law of God ? Rom. viii. 1. I 
know there is also a blindness of understanding, and 
other things, belonging to original corruption, which 
conduce to this evil propensity of the will ; but yet 
this propensity itself is the great evil, the indwelling 
sin which produces all actual sins ; and must of neces- 
sity be removed or restrained, by restoring that con- 
trary inclination, wherein the image of God consists ; 
or else we shall be backward and reprobate to every 
good work, and whatever freedom the will has, it shall 
be employed only in the service of sin. 

Fourthly, God restores His people to holiness, by 
giving to them a new heart, and a new spirit, and 
taking away the heart of stone out of their flesh, and 
giving them a heart of flesh, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27 ; and 
He eircumciseth their heart to love Him with their whole 
heart and soul. And He requires, that we should be 
transformed in the renewing of our mind, that we may 
prove what is Bis acceptable will, Rom. xii. 2 ; and 



34 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

David prays, for the same end, that God would create 
in him a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within 
him, Psalm li. 10. If any one can judge, that this new, 
clean, circumcised heart, this heart of flesh, this new, 
right spirit, is such a one as has no actual inclination 
and propensity to good, but only a power to choose 
good or evil, undeservedly called free will, with a pres- 
ent inclination to evil, or an indifference of propensity 
to both contraries, it will not be worth my labor to 
convince such a judgment : only let him consider, 
whether David could account such a heart to be clean 
and right, when he prayed, Ps. cxix. 36, Incline mine 
heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. 

The second endowment necessary to enable us for 
the immediate practice of holiness, and concurring with 
the two others that follow, to work in us a rational 
propensity to this practice, is, that we be well persuad- 
ed of our reconciliation with God. We must reckon, 
that the breach of amity which sin has made between 
God and us, is made up by a firm reconciliation to His 
love and favor. And herein I include the great benefit 
of justification, as the means whereby we are recon- 
ciled to God, which is described in-Scriptu; e, either by 
forgiving our sins, or by the imputation of righteous- 
ness to us, Rom. iv. 5, 6, 1 ; because both are contain- 
ed in one and the same justifying act ; as one act of il- 
lumination comprehends expulsion of darkness, and in- 
troduction of light; one act of repentance contains 
mortification of sin, and vivification to righteousness; 
and every motion from anything to its contrary, is but 
one and the same, though it may be expressed by di- 
vers names, with respect to either of the two contrary 
terms, the one of which is abolished, the other intro- 
duced by it. This is a great mystery, (contrary to the 
apprehensions, not only of the vulgar, but of some 
learned divines,) that we must be reconciled to God, 
and justified by the remission of our sins, and imputa- 



n.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 35 

tion of righteousness, before any sincere obedience to 
the law, that we may be enabled for the practice of it. 
They account, that this doctrine tends to the subver- 
sion of a holy practice, and is a great pillar of Antino- 
mianism ; and that the only way to establish sincere 
obedience, is to make it rather a condition to be per- 
formed before our actual justification, and reconciliation 
with God. Therefore some late divines have thought 
fit to bring the doctrine of former Protestants concern- 
ing justification to their anvil, and to hammer it into 
another form, that it might be more free from Antino* 
mianism, and effectual to secure a holy practice. 
But their labor is vain and pernicious, tending to An- 
tinomian profaneness, or painted hypocrisy at best ; 
neither can the true practice of holiness be secure, ex- 
cept the persuasion of our justification, and reconcilia- 
tion with God, be first obtained without works of the 
law, that we may be enabled thereby to do them ; as I 
shall now prove by several arguments : intending also 
to show in the following directions, that such a per- 
suasion of the love of God as God giveth to His people, 
tends only to holiness, though a mispersuasion of it be 
in many an occasion of licentiousness. 

First, When the first Adam was framed for the 
practice of holiness at his creation, he was highly in 
the favor of God, and had no sin imputed to him, and 
he was accounted righteous in the sight of God, ac- 
cording to his present state ; because he was made up- 
right according to God's image. And there is no rea- 
son to doubt, that these qualifications were his ad- 
vantage for a holy practice, and the wisdom of God 
judged them good for that end ; and, as soon as he 
lost them, he became dead in sin. The second Adam 
also in our nature was the beloved of the Father, ac- 
counted righteous in the sight of God, without the im- 
putation of any sin to Him, except what His office was 
to bear on the behalf of others. And can we reason- 
ably expect to be imitators of Christ, by performing 



3C THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

more difficult obedience than the first Adam s was before 
the fall, except the like advantages be given to us, by 
reconciliation, and remission of sins, and the imputation 
of a righteousness given by God to us, when we have 
none of our own ? 

Secondly, Those that know their natural deadness 
under the power of sin and Satan, are fully convinced, 
that if God leave them to their own hearts, they can 
do nothing but sin ; and that they can do no good 
work, except it please God, of His great love and mercy, 
to work it in them, John viii. 36, Phil. ii. 13, Rom. viii. 
7, 8. Therefore, that they may be encouraged and ra- 
tionally inclined to holiness, they must hope that God 
will work savingly in them. Now, I leave it to con- 
siderate men to judge whether such a hope can be 
well grounded, without a good persuasion of such a 
reconciliation and saving love of God to us, as depends 
not upon any precedent goodness of our works, but is 
a cause sufficient to produce them effectually in us? 
Yea, we know further, (if we know ourselves sufficient- 
ly,) that our death in sin proceeded from the guilt of 
the first sin of Adam, and the sentence denounced 
against it, Gen. ii. 17, and that it is still maintained in 
us by the guilt of sin, and the curse of the law; and 
that spiritual life will never be given us, to free us from 
that dominion, except this guilt and curse be removed 
from us; which is done by actual justification, Gal. iii. 
13, 14, Rom. vi. 14. And this is sufficient to make us 
despair of living to God in holiness, while we appre- 
hend ourselves to be under the curse and wrath of 
God, by reason of our transgressions and sins lying 
upon us, Ezek. xxxiii. 10. 

Thirdly, The nature of the duties of the law is such, 
as requires an apprehension of our reconciliation with 
God, and His hearty love and favor towards us for the 
doing of them. The great duty is love to God with 
our whole heart ; and not such a contemplative love as 
philosophers may have to the objects of science, which 



II.] OF SANCTIFICATION. Si 

they are concerned in no further, than to please their 
fancies in the knowledge of them ; but a practical love, 
whereby we are willing that God should be absolute 
Lord and governor over us and all the world, to dis- 
pose of us and all others according to His will, as to 
our temporal and everlasting condition, and that He 
should be the only portion and happiness of all those 
that are happy ; a love whereby we like everything in 
Him as He is our Lord ; His justice as well as any other 
attribute, without wishing or desiring that He were 
better than He is ; and whereby we desire that His will 
may be done upon us, and all others, whether for pros- 
perity or adversity, life or death ; and whereby we can 
heartily praise Him for all things, and delight in our 
obedience to Him, in doing His will, though we suffer 
that which is ever so grievous to us, even present 
death. 

Consider these things well, and you may easily per- 
ceive, that our spirits are not in a fit frame for the doing 
of them, while we apprehend ourselves under the curse 
and wrath of God, or while Ave are under prevailing 
suspicions that God will prove an enemy to us at last. 
Slavish fear may extort some slavish, hypocritical per- 
formances from us, such as that of Pharaoh in letting 
the Israelites go, sore against his will ; but the duty 
of love cannot be extorted and forced by fear, but it 
must be won and sweetly allured by an apprehension 
of God's love and goodness towards us ; as that emi- 
nent, loving, and beloved disciple testifies, 1 John 
iv. 18, 19. " There is no fear in love, but perfect love 
casteth out fear, because fear hath torment : he that 
feareth is not made perfect in love. We love Him, 
because He first loved us." Observe here, that we 
cannot be beforehand with God in loving Him, before 
we apprehend His love to us. And consult your own 
experience, if you have any true love to God, whether 
it were not wrought in you by a sense of God's love 
first towards you ? All the goodness and excellency 

4 



38 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

of God cannot render Him an amiable object to us, ex- 
cept we apprehend Him an agreeable good to us. I 
question not but the devils know the excellency of 
God's nature, as well as our greatest metaphysical 
speculators ; and this only fills them the more with 
tormenting horror and trembling, that is contrary to 
love, James ii. 19. The greater God's excellency and 
perfection is, the greater evil He is to us, if He hate us 
and curse us. And therefore the principle of self- 
preservation, deeply rooted in our natures, hinders us 
from loving that which we apprehend as our destruc- 
tion. If a man be an enemy to us, we can love him 
for the sake of our loving, reconciled God, because His 
love will make man's hatred to work for our good ; 
but if God himself be our enemy, for whose sake can 
we love Him ? Who is there that can free us from the 
evil of His enmity, and turn it to our advantage until 
He be pleased to reconcile Himself to us ? 

Fourthly, Our conscience must of necessity be first 
purged from dead works, that we may serve the living 
God. And this is done by actual remission of sir), pro- 
cured by the blood of Christ, and manifested to our 
consciences ; as appeared by Christ's dying for this 
end, Heb. ix. 14, 15, and x. 1, 2, 4, 14, 17, 22. That 
conscience whereby we judge ourselves to be under the 
guilt of sin and the wrath of God is accounted an evil 
conscience in Scripture, though it perform its office 
truly ; because it is caused by the evil of sin, and will 
itself be a cause of our committing more sin, until it 
can judge us to be justified from all sin, and received 
into the favor of God. Love, which is the end of the 
law, must proceed from a good conscience, as well as 
from any other cleanness of heart, 1 Tim. i. 5. David's 
mouth could not be opened to show forth the praise 
of God, until he was delivered from blood-guiltiness, 
Ps. Ii. 14, 15. This evil, guilty conscience, whereby 
we judge that God is our enemy, and that His justice 
ifl against us to our everlasting condemnation, by reason 



II.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 39 

of our sins, strongly maintains and increases the do- 
minion of sin and Satan in us, and works most mis- 
chievous effects in the soul against godliness, even to 
bring the soul to hate God, and to wish there were no 
God, no heaven, no hell, so we might escape the pun- 
ishment due to us. It so disaffects people toward 
God, that they cannot endure to think, or speak, or 
hear of Him and His law ; but strive rather to put Him 
out of their minds by fleshly pleasures and worldly 
employments. And thus they are alienated from all 
true religion ; only, blinding it, and stopping the mouth 
of it. It produces zeal in many outside religious per- 
formances ; and also false religion, idolatry, and the 
most inhuman superstitions in the world. I have often 
considered, by what manner of working any sin could 
effectually destroy the whole image of God in the first 
Adam ; and I conclude, it was by working first an evil, 
guilty conscience in him, whereby he judged that the 
just God was against him, and cursed him for that one 
sin. And this was enough to work a shameful naked- 
ness by disorderly lusts, a turning his love wholly from 
God to the creature, and a desire to be hidden from 
the presence of God, Gen. iii. 8, 10, which was a total 
destruction of the image of God's holiness. And we 
have cause to judge, that from the same cause pro- 
ceeds the continual malice, rancor, rage, and blasphemy 
of the devil, and many notorious wicked men, against 
God and godliness. Some may think Job uncharitable, 
in suspecting, not merely that his sons had sinned, but 
that they had been so abominably wicked as to curse 
God in their hearts, Job i. 5, but Job well understood, 
that if the guilt of any ordinary sin lie upon the con- 
science, it will make the soul to wish secretly, that God 
was not, or that He were not so just a judge ; which 
is a secret cursing of God, that cannot be avoided, until 
our consciences be purged from the guilt of sin, by the 
offering of Christ for us ; which was then figured out 
by the burnt-offerings of Job for his sons. 



40 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

Fifthly, God has abundantly discovered to us, in 
His Word, that His method in bringing men from sin to 
holiness cf life, is, first to make them know that He 
loves them, and that their sins are blotted out. When 
He gave the ten commandments on Mount Sinai, He 
first discovered Himself to be their God, that had given 
them a sure pledge of His salvation, by their delivery 
from Egypt, in the preface, Exod. xx. 2. And during 
all the time of the Old Testament, God was pleased to 
make the entrance into religion to be by circumcision, 
which was not only a sign but also a seal of the right- 
eousness of faith, whereby God justifies people, while 
they are considered as ungodly, Rom. iv. 11, 15. 
And this seal was administered to children eight davs 
old, before they could perform any condition of sin- 
cere obedience, for their justification, that their fur- 
niture for a holy practice might be ready beforehand. 
Furthermore, in the time of the Old Testament, God 
appointed divers washings, and the blood of bulls and 
goats, and the ashes of a, heifer sprinkling the un- 
clean, to prepare and sanctify them for other parts of 
His worship in His tabernacle and temple ; to figure 
out His purging their consciences from dead works by 
the blood of Christ, that they might serve the living 
God, Heb. ix. 10, 13, 14, 22. This, I say, was then 
figurative sanctification, as the word sanctification is 
taken in a large sense, comprehending all things that 
prepare us for the service of God, chiefly the remission 
of sin, Heb. x. 10, 14, 18. Though if it be taken in a 
strict sense, respecting only our conformity to the law, 
it must necessarily be placed after justification, accord- 
ing to the usual method of Protestant divines. God 
also reminded them of the necessity of purging away 
their guilt first, that their service might be acceptable, 
by commanding them to offer the sin-offering before 
the burnt -offering, Lev. v. 8, and xvi. 3, 11. And, lest 
the guilt of their sins should pollute the service of God, 
notwithstanding all their particular expiations, God was 



II.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 41 

pleased to appoint a general atonement for all their 
sins one day every year, wherein the scapegoat was 
" to bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not 
inhabited," Lev. xvi. 22, 34. Under the New Testa- 
ment, God uses the same method, in loving us first, and 
washing us from our sins by the blood of Christ, that 
He may make us priests, to offer the sacrifices of praise 
and all good works to God, even the Father. He 
enters us into His service, by washing away our sins in 
baptism : He feeds and strengthens us for His service 
by remission of sins, given to us in the blood of Christ 
at the Lord's Supper : He exhorts us to obey Him, 
because He has already loved us, and our sins are 
already pardoned. " Forgive one another, even as God 
for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore 
followers of God as dear children : and walk in love, as 
Christ hath loved us," Eph. iv. 32, and v. 1, 2. "I 
write unto you, little children, because your sins are 
forgiven you for His name's sake. Love not the world, 
neither the things that are in the world," 1 J.ohn ii. 
12, 15. I might quote abundance of texts of the same 
nature. We may clearly see by all this, that God has 
accounted it a matter of great importance, and has 
condescended to take wonderful care in providing plen- 
tiful means, both under the Old and New Testament, 
that His people might be first cleansed from guilt and 
reconciled to Himself, to fit them for the acceptable 
practice of holiness. Away, then, with all the contrary 
methods of the new divinity. 

The third endowment necessary to enable us for 
the practice of holiness, without which a persuasion of 
our reconciliation with God would be of little efficacy 
to work ia us a rational propensity to it, is, that we be 
persuaded of our future enjoyment of the everlasting 
heavenly happiness. This must precede our holy prac- 
tice, as a cause disposing and alluring us to it. This 
assertion has several sorts of adversaries to oppose it. 



42 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

Some account, that a persuasion of our own future 
happiness, before we have persevered in sincere obedi- 
ence, tends to licentiousness ; and that the way to do 
good works, is rather to make them a condition neces- 
sary for the procuring of this persuasion. Others 
condemn all works that we are allured or stirred up to 
by the future enjoyment of the heavenly happiness, as 
legal, mercenary, flowing from self-love, and not from 
any pure love to God ; and they figure out sincere 
godliness by a man bearing fire in one hand, to burn 
up heaven, and water in the other to quench hell ; in- 
timating that the true service of God must not proceed 
at all from hope of reward, or fear of punishment, but 
only from love. To establish the truth asserted, against 
the errors that are so contrary to it, and to each other, I 
shall propose the ensuing considerations. 

First, The nature of the duties of the law is such, 
that they cannot be sincerely and universally practised 
without this endowment. That this endowment must 
be present in us, is sufficiently proved already, by all 
that I have said concerning the necessity of the persua- 
sion of our firm reconciliation with God by our justifi- 
cation, to prepare us for this practice ; because that 
includes a persuasion of this future-happiness, or else 
it is of little value. All that I have to add here, is, 
that sincere obedience cannot rationally subsist, except 
it be allured, encouraged, and supported by this per- 
suasion. Let me therefore suppose a Sadducee believ- 
ing no happiness after this life, and put the question, 
Can such a one love God with his whole heart, might, 
and soul ? Will he not think it reasonable, rather to 
lessen and moderate his love towards God, lest he 
should be overmuch troubled to part with Him by 
death ? We account it most reasonable to sit loose in 
our affections from things that we must part with. Can 
such a one be satisfied with the enjoyment of God as 
his happiness? Will he not rather account, that the 
enjoyment of God, and all religious duties, are vanities, 



II.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 43 

as well as other things; because in a little time we 
shall have no more benefit by them, than if they had 
never been ? How can such a one be willing to lay 
down his life for the sake of God, when, by his death, 
he must part with God, as well as with other tilings ? 
How can he willingly choose affliction, rather than sin, 
when he shall be more miserable in this life for it, and 
not at all happy hereafter ? I grant, if affliction come 
unavoidably upon such a person, he may reasonably 
judge, that patience is better for him than impatience ; 
but it will displease him, that he is forced to the use 
of such a virtue ; and he will be prone to fret and mur- 
mur at his Creator, and to wish he had never been, 
rather than to endure such miseries, and to be com- 
forted only with vain, transitory enjoyments. I think 
I have said enough to show how unfurnished such a 
man is for holiness. And he that will burn up heaven, 
and quench hell, that he may serve God out of love, 
thereby leaves himself little better furnished than the 
Sadducee. The one denies them, the other will not 
have them at all to be considered in this case. 

Secondly, The sure hope of the glory of heaven, is 
made use of ordinarily by God, since the fall of Adam, 
as an encouragement to the practice of holiness ; as 
the Scripture abundantly shows. Christ, the great 
pattern of holiness, " for the joy that was set before 
Him, endured the cross, despising the shame," Heb. 
xii. 2. And though I cannot sa}^, that the first Adam 
had such a sure hope to preserve him in innocence ; 
yet he had instead of it, the present possession of an 
earthly paradise, and a happy estate in it ; which he 
knew would last, if he continued in holiness, or be 
changed into a better happiness. The apostles did not 
faint under affliction, because they knew that it wrought 
for them " a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory," 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17. The believing Hebrews 
"took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in 
themselves that thev had in heaven a better and an 



44 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

enduring substance," Heb. x. 34. The Apostle Paul 
accounts all his sufferings unprofitable, were it not for 
a glorious resurrection ; and that Christians would be 
of all men most miserable, and that the doctrine of the 
Epicures were rather to be chosen, " Let us eat and 
drink, for to-morrow we shall die." And he exhorts 
the Corinthians to be " abundant in the work of the 
Lord, knowing that their labor shall not be in vain in 
the Lord," 1 Cor. xv. 58. As worldly hope keeps the 
world at work in their various employments, so God 
gives His people the hope of His glory, to keep them 
close to His service, Heb. vi. 11, 12, 1 John iii. 3. 
And it is such a sure hope as shall never make them 
ashamed, Rom. v. 5. Those that think it below the 
excellency of their love, to work from a hope of the 
heavenly reward, thereby, advance their love beyond 
the love of the apostles and primitive saints, and even 
of Christ himself. 

Thirdly, This persuasion of our future enjoyment of 
everlasting happiness cannot tend to licentiousness, if 
we understand well, that perfect holiness is a neces- 
sary part of that happiness, and that though we have 
a title to that happiness by free justification and adop- 
tion, yet we must go to the possession of it in a way 
of holiness, 1 John iii. 1, 2, 3. Neither is it legal or 
mercenary, to be moved by this persuasion ; seeing the 
persuasion itself is not gotten by the works of the law, 
but by free grace through faith, Gal. v. 5. And, if it 
be a working from self-love ; yet, for certain, it is not 
that carnal self-love which the Scripture condemns as 
the mother of sinfulness, 2 Tim. iii. 2 ; but a holy self- 
love, inclining us to prefer God above the flesh and the 
world, such as God directs us unto, when He exhorts 
us to save ourselves, Acts ii. 40, 1 Tim. iv. 16. And 
it is so far from being contrary to the pure love of God, 
that it brings us to love God more purely and entirely. 
The more good and beneficial we apprehend God to us 
to all eternity, doubtless the more lovely God will be 



II.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 45 

to us, and our affections will be the more inflamed to- 
wards Him. God will not be loved as a barren wil- 
derness, a land of darkness to us, neither will He be 
served for naught, Jer. ii. 31, Isa. xlv. 19. He would 
think it a dishonor to Him to be owned by us as our 
God, if He had not prepared for us a city, Heb. xi. 1G. 
And He draws us to love Him by " the cords of a 
man," such cords as the love of man uses to be drawn 
by, even by His own love to us, in laying His benefits 
before us, Hos. xi. 4. Therefore the way for us to 
" keep ourselves in the love of God," is " to look for His' 
mercy unto eternal life," Jude, ver. 21. 

The last endowment, for the same end as the for- 
mer, is, that we be well persuaded of sufficient strength 
both to will and perform our duty acceptably, until we 
come to the enjoyment of the heavenly happiness. 
This is contrary to the error of those that account it 
sufficient, if we have strength to practise holiness, if 
we will, or to will it if we please ; and this is the suffi- 
cient strength which they earnestly contend for, as a 
great benefit bestowed on all mankind by universal re- 
demption. It is also contrary to the error of those 
that think the practice of godliness and wickedness to 
be alike easy, excepting only some difficulty in the 
first alterations of vicious customs, and in bearing per- 
secutions, which they account to be a rare case, since 
the kingdoms of the world have- been brought to the 
profession of Christianity; or that think that God re- 
quires of men only to do their endeavor, that is, what 
they can do ; and it is nonsense to say they cannot do 
what they can do. According to their judgment, it 
is needless to concern themselves much about sufficient 
strength for holy practice. For the confirmation of 
the assertion, against those errors, take these argu- 
ments. 

First, We are, by nature, dead in trespasses and 
sins, unable to will or to do anything that is spiritually 



46 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

good, notwithstanding the redemption that is by Christ, 
until we be actually quickened by Christ, Eph. ii. 1, 
Rom. viii. 7, 8, 9. Those that are sufficiently enlight- 
ened and humbled, know themselves to be naturally in 
this case, and that they do not only want executive 
power to do good, but chiefly a heart to will it, and to 
be pleased with it ; and that, if God work not in them 
both to will and to do, they shall neither will nor do 
anything pleasing to Him, Phil. ii. 13 ; and that, if He 
leave them to their own corruption, after He has begun 
the good work, they shall certainly prove vile apos- 
tates, and their latter end will be worse than their be- 
ginning. We may conclude from hence, that whoever 
can courageously attempt the practice of the law, 
without being well persuaded of a sufficient power, 
whereby he may be enabled to be heartily willing, as 
well as to perform when he is willing, until he has gone 
through the whole work of obedience acceptably ; such 
a one was never yet truly humbled, and brought to 
know the plague of his own heart ; neither does he 
truly believe the doctrine of original sin, whatever formal 
profession he may make of it. 

Secondly, Those that think sincere conformity to the 
law in ordinary cases to be so very easy, show that 
they neither know it nor themselves. Is it an easy 
thing to wrestle, not against flesh only, but " against 
principalities, powers, spiritual wickedness in high 
places?" Eph. vi. 12. Is it an easy thing not to lust 
or covet, according to the tenth commandment ? The 
Apostle Paul found it so difficult to obey this com- 
mandment, that his concupiscence prevailed the more 
by occasion of the commandment, Rom. viii. 7, 8. Our 
work is, not only to alter vicious customs, but to mor- 
tify corrupt natural affections which bred those cus- 
toms ; and not only to deny the fulfilling of sinful lusts, 
but to be full of holy love and desires : yet even the 
restraining the execution of corrupt lusts, and crossing 
them by contrary actings, is, in many cases, like " the 



II.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 47 

cutting off a right hand, and plucking out a right 
eye," Matt. v. 29, 30. If obedience be so easy, how 
came it to pass that the heathens generally did those 
things for which their own consciences condemned them 
as worthy of death ? Rom. i. 32 ; and that many 
among us "seek to enter in at the strait gate, and are 
not able/' Luke xiii. 24 ; and break so many vows and 
purposes of obedience, and fall back to the practice of 
their lusts, though, in the mean time, the fears of eter- 
nal damnation press hard upon their consciences? 

As to those that find persecution for religion to be 
so rare a thing in late days, they have cause to be sus- 
pected, that they " are of the world, and therefore the 
world loveth its own;" else they would find, that na- 
tional profession of religion will not secure those that 
are truly godly from several sorts of persecutions. And 
suppose men do not persecute us for religion, yet there 
is great" difficulty in bearing great injuries from men on 
other accounts, and losses, poverty, bodily pains, long 
diseases, and untimely deaths, from the ordinary provi- 
dence of God, with such hearty love to God, and to in- 
jurious men for His sake, and such a patient acqui- 
escence in His will, as the law of God requires. I 
acknowledge, that the work of God is easy and pleas- 
ant to those whom God rightly furnishes with endow- 
ments for it; but those that assert it to be easy to men 
in their common condition, show their imprudence, in 
contradicting the general experience of heathens and 
Christians. Though many duties do not require much 
labor of body or mind, and might be done with ease, if 
we were willing, yet it is easier to remove a mountain, 
than to move and incline the heart to will and effect the 
doing of them. I need not concern myself with those 
who account that all have sufficient strength for a holy 
practice, because they can do their endeavor, that is, 
what they can do ; for God requires actual fulfilling of 
His commands. What, if by our endeavors we can do 
nothing in any measure according to the rule, shall the 



48 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

law be put off with no performance ? and shall such 
endeavors be accounted sufficient holiness? And what 
if we cannot so much as endeavor in a right way ? If 
a man's ability were the measure of acceptable duty, 
the commands of the law would signify very little. 

Thirdly, The wisdom of God has ever furnished 
people with a good persuasion of a sufficient strength, 
that they might be enabled both to will and do their 
duty. The first Adam was furnished with such a 
strength ; and we have no cause to think that he was 
ignorant of it, or that he needed to fear that he should 
be left to his own corruptions ; because he had no cor- 
ruptions in him, until he had produced them in him- 
self by sinning against strength ; and, Avhen he had lost 
that strength, he could not recover the practice of holi- 
ness, until he was acquainted with a better strength, 
whereby the head of Satan should be bruised, Gen. iii. 
15. Our Lord Jesus Christ doubtless knew the infinite 
power of His Deity to enable Him for all that He was to 
do and suffer in our nature. He knew the Lord God 
would help Him, " therefore He should not be con- 
founded," Isa. 1. 7. The Scripture shows what plenti- 
ful assurance of strength God gave to Moses, Joshua, 
and Gideon, when He called them to great employ- 
ments : and to the Israelites, when He called them to 
subdue the land of Canaan. Christ would have the 
sons of Zebedee to consider whether they were able 
'• to drink of His cup, and to be baptized with the bap- 
tism that he was baptized with," Matt. xx. 22. Paul 
encourages believers to the life of holiness, by persuad- 
ing them, that sin shall not prevail to get the dominion 
over them, because they "are not under the law, but 
under grace," Rom. vi. 13, 14. And he exhorts them 
"to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His 
might, that they might be able to stand against the 
wiles of the devil," Eph. vi. 10, 11. John exhorts 
believers "not to love the world, nor the things of the 
world, because they were strong, and had overcome 



III.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 49 

the wicked one," 1 John ii. 14, 15. They that were 
called of God heretofore to work miracles, were first 
acquainted with the gift cf power to work them, and 
no wise man will attempt to do them without knowl- 
edge of the gift ; even so, when men that are dead in 
sin, are called to do the works of a holy life, which 
are : n them great miracles, God makes a discovery of 
the gift of power unto them, that He may encourage 
them in a rational way to such a wonderful enterprise. 



DIRECTION III. 

The way to get holy endowments and qualifications necessary 
to frame and enable us for the immediate practice of the law, is 
to receive them out of the fulness of Christ, by fellowship with 
Him ; and, that we may have this fellowship, we must be in 
Christ, and have Christ Himself in us, by a mystical union with 
Him. 

EXPLICATION. 

Here, as much as anywhere, we have great cause 
to acknowledge, with the Apostle, that, " without con- 
troversy, great is the mystYry of godliness," even so 
o;reat, that it could " not have entered into the heart 
of man to conceive it, if God had not made it known" 
in the Gospel by supernatural revelation. Yea, though 
it be revealed clearly in the Holy Scriptures, yet the 
natural man has not eyes to see it there ; for it is fool- 
ishness to him ; and, if God express it ever so plainly 
and properly, he will think that God is speaking rid- 
dles and parables. And I doubt not but it is still a 
riddle and parable even to many truly godly, who have 
received a holy nature in this way ; for the apostles 
themselves had the saving benefit of 't, before the 

5 



50 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

Comforter discovered it clearly to them, John xiv. 20. 
And they walked in Christ as the way to the Father, 
before they clearly knew Him to be the way, John xiv. 
5. And the best of us know it but in part, and must 
wait for the perfect knowledge of it in another world. 
One great mystery is, that the holy frame and dis- 
position whereby our souls are furnished and enabled 
for immediate practice of the law, must be obtained 
" by receiving it out of Christ's fulness," as a thing al- 
ready prepared and brought to an existence for us in 
Christ, and treasured up in Him : and that, as we are 
justified by a righteousness wrought out in Christ, and 
imputed to us, so we are sanctified by such a holy 
frame and qualifications, as are first wrought out, and 
completed in Christ for us, and then imparted to us. 
And as our natural corruption was produced originally 
in the first Adam, and propagated from him to us, so 
our new nature and holiness is first produced in Christ, 
and derived from Him to us, or, as it were, propa- 
gated. So that we are not at all to work together 
with Christ, in making or producing that holy frame 
in us, but only to take it to ourselves, and use it in our 
holy practice, as made ready to our hands. / Thus we 
have fellowship with Christ, in receiving that holy 
frame of spirit that was originally m Him ; for fellow- 
ship is when several persons have the same thing in 
common, 1 John i. 1, 2, 3. This mystery is so great, 
that, notwithstanding all the light of the Gospel, we 
commonly think that we must get a holy frame, by 
producing it anew in ourselves, and by forming and 
working it out of our own hearts. Therefore, many 
that are seriously devout, take a great deal of pains to 
mortify their corrupt nature, and beget a holy frame of 
heart in themselves, by striving earnestly to master 
their sinful lusts, and by pressing vehemently upon 
their hearts many motives to godliness, laboring im- 
portunately to squeeze good qualifications out of them, 
as oil out of a flint. ^They account, that though they 



III.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 51 

be justified by a righteousness wrought out by Christ, 
yet they must be sanctified by a holiness wrought out 
by themselves. And though, out of humility, they 
are willing to call it infused grace, yet they think they 
must get the infusion of it by the same manner of 
working, as if it were wholly acquired by their own 
endeavors. On this account they acknowledge the 
entrance into a godly life to be harsh and unpleasing, 
because it costs so much struggling with their own 
hearts and affections to new-frame them. If they knew 
that this way of entrance is not only harsh and un- 
pleasant, but altogether impossible ; and that the true 
way of mortifying sin and quickening themselves to 
holiness, is by receiving a new nature out of the ful- 
ness of Christ; and that we do no more to the produc- 
tion of a new nature, than of original sin, though we 
do more to the reception of it; if they knew this, they 
might save themselves many a bitter agony, and a 
great deal of misspent burdensome labor, and employ 
their endeavors to enter in at the strait gate, in such a 
way as would be more pleasant and successful. 

Another great mystery in the way of sanctification, 
is, the glorious manner of our fellowship with Christ, 
in receiving a holy frame of heart from Him. It is by 
our being in Christ, and having Christ Himself in us ; 
and that not merely by His universal presence as He 
is God, but by such a close union, as that we are one 
spirit and one flesh with Him ; which is a privilege 
peculiar to those that are truly sanctified. I may well 
call this a mystical union, because the Apostle calls it 
a great mystery, in an epistle full of mysteries, Eph. 
v. 22, intimating, that it is eminently great above 
many other mysteries. It is one of the three mystical 
unions that are the chief mysteries in religion. The 
other two are, the union of the Trinity of Persons in 
one Godhead, and the union of the divine and human 
natui-es in one Person, Jesus Christ, God and man. 
Though we cannot frame an exact idea of the manner 



52 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

of any of these three unions in our imaginations, be- 
cause the depth of these mysteries is beyond our com- 
prehension, yet we have cause to believe them all, be- 
cause they are clearly revealed in Scripture, and are a 
necessary foundation for other points of Christian doc- 
trine. Particularly, this union between Christ and 
believers is plain in several places of Scripture, affirm- 
ing that Christ is, and "dwelleth in believers, and they 
in Him/' John vi. 56, and xiv. 20 ; and that they are so 
joined together as to become one spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 17 ; 
and that believers are members of Christ's body, of 
His flesh, and of His bones ; and they two, Christ and 
the Church, are "one flesh," Eph. v. SO, 31. Further- 
more, this union is illustrated in Scripture by various 
resemblances, which would be very much unlike the 
things which they are made use of to resemble, and 
would rather seem to beguile us by obscuring the 
truth, than instruct us by illustrating it, if there were 
no true proper union between Christ and believers. It 
is resembled by the union between God the Father 
and Christ, John xiv. 20, and xvii. 21, 22, 23 ; between 
the vine and its branches, John xv. 4, 5 ; between the 
head and body, Eph. i. 22, 23 ; between bread and 
the eater, John vi. 51, 53, 54. It is not only resem- 
bled, but sealed in the Lord's Supper ; where neither 
the Popish transubstantiation, nor the Lutherans' con- 
substantiation, nor the Protestants' spiritual presence 
of Christ's body and blood to the true receivers, can 
stand without it. And, if we can imagine that Christ's 
body and blood are not truly eaten and drunk by be- 
lievers, either spiritually or corporally, we shall make 
the bread and wine, joined with the words of institu- 
tion, not only naked signs, but such signs as are much 
more apt to produce false notions in us, than to estab- 
lish us in the truth. And there is nothing in this 
union so impossible, or repugnant to reason, as may 
force us to depart from the plain and familiar sense of 
those Scriptures that express and illustrate it. Though 



III.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 53 

Christ be in heaven, and we on earth, yet He can join 
our souls and bodies to His at such a distance, without 
any substantial change of either, by the same infinite 
Spirit dwelling in Him and us ; and so our flesh will 
become His, when it is quickened by His Spirit ; and 
His flesh ours, as truly as if we did eat His flesh and 
drink His blood ; and He will be in us Himself by 
His Spirit, who is one with Him, and who can unite 
more closely to Christ than any material substance can 
do, or who can make a more close and intimate union 
between Christ and us. And it will not follow from 
hence, that a believer is one person with Christ, any 
more than that Christ is one Person with the Father 
by that great mystical union. Neither will a believer 
be hereby made God, but only the temple of God, as 
Christ's body and soul is ; and the Spirit's lively instru- 
ment, rather than the principal cause. Neither will a 
believer be necessarily perfect in holiness hereby ; or 
Christ made a sinner: for Christ knows how to dwell 
in believers by certain measures and degrees, and to 
make them holy so far only as He dwells in them. 
And though this union seem too high a preferment for 
such unworthy creatures as we are, yet, considering 
the preciousness of the blood of God, whereby we are 
redeemed, we should dishonor God, if we should not 
expect a miraculous advancement to the highest dig- 
nity that creatures are capable of, through the merits 
of that blood. Neither is there anything in this union 
contrary to the judgment of sense, because the bond 
of the union, being spiritual, falls not at all under the 
judgment of sense. 

Several learned men of late acknowledge no other 
union between Christ and believers, than such as per- 
sons or things wholly separated, may have by their 
mutual relations to each other ; and they interpret ac- 
cordingly the places of Scripture that speak of this 
union. When Christ is called the head of the Church, 
they account, that a political head or governor is the 

5* 



54 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

thing meant. When Christ is said to be in His people, 
and they in Him, they think that the proper meaning 
is, that Christ's law, doctrine, grace, salvation, or that 
godliness is in them, and embraced by them : so that 
Christ here must not be taken for Christ Himself, but 
for some other thing wrought in them by Christ. 
When Christ and believers are said to be one spirit, and 
one flesh, they understand it of the agreement of their 
minds and affections ; as if the greatness of the mys- 
tery of this union, mentioned, Eph. v. 32, consisted 
rather in a harsh trope, or a dark, improper expression, 
than in the depth and abstruseness of the thing itself; 
and as it* Christ and His Apostles had affected obscure, 
intricate expressions, when they speak to the Church 
of things ver^y plain and easy to be understood. Thus, 
that great mystery, the union of believers with Christ 
Himself, which is the glory of the Church, and has been 
highly owned formerly, both by the ancient fathers., and 
many eminent Protestant divines, particularly writers 
concerning the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, and by a 
very general consent of the Church in many ages, is 
now exploded out of the new model of divinity. The 
reason of exploding it, as I judge in charity, is not, be- 
cause our learned refiners of divinity think themselves 
less able to defend it, than the other two mysterious 
unions, and to silence the objections of those proud, 
sophists that will not believe what they cannot com- 
prehend ; but rather, because they account it to be one 
of the sinews of Antinomianism, that lay unobserved in 
the former usual doctrine ; that it tends to puff up men 
with a persuasion that they are justified, and have eter- 
nal life in them already, and that they need not depend 
any longer upon their uncertain performances of the 
condition of sincere obedience for salvation : whereby 
they account the very foundation of a holy practice to 
be subverted. But the wisdom of God has laid another 
manner of foundation for a holy practice than they im- 
agine, of which this union (which the builders refuse) 



III.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 55 

is a principal stone, next to the head of the corner. 
And, in opposition to their corrupt glosses upon the 
Scriptures that prove it, I assert, that our union with 
Christ is the cause of our subjection to Christ as a po- 
litical head in all things, and of the abiding of His law, 
doctrine, grace, salvation, and all godliness in us, and 
of our agreement with Him in our minds and affec- 
tions; and, therefore, it cannot be altogether the same 
thing with them. And this assertion is useful for a 
better understanding of the excellency of this union. 
It is not a privilege procured by our sincere obedience 
and holiness, as some may imagine, or a reward of good 
works reserved for us in another world ; but a privi- 
lege bestowed upon believers in their very first entrance 
into a holy state, on which all ability to do good works 
depends, and all sincere obedience to the law follow 
after it, as fruit produced by it. 

Having thus far explained the direction, I shall now 
show, that though the truth contained in it be above 
the reach of natural reason, yet it is evidently discov- 
ered to those that have their understandings opened, to 
discern that supernatural revelation of the mysterious 
way of sanctification, which God has given to us in the 
Holy Scriptures. 

First, There are several places in Scripture that 
plainly express it. Some texts show, " that all things 
pertaining to our salvation, are treasured up for us in 
Christ, and comprehended in His fulness ;" so that we 
must have them thence, or not at all ; Col. i. 9. " It 
pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness 
dwell." And, in the same epistle, Col. ii. 11, 12, 13, 
the Apostle shows that the holy nature whereby we 
live to God was first produced in us by His death and 
resurrection : " In whom also ye are circumcised in 
putting off the body of the sins of the flesh ; buried 
with Him ; quickened together with Him, when you 
were dead in your sins, ,, Eph. i. 3. " Who hath blessed 



56 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [dIRKCT. 

us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in 
Christ." A holy frame of spirit, with all its necessary 
qualifications, must needs be comprehended in "ail 
spiritual blessings :" and these are given us in Christ's 
person in heavenly places, as prepared and treasured 
up in Him for us while we are upon earth ; and, there- 
fore, we must have our holy endowments out of Him, 
or not at all. In this text some choose rather to read 
heavenly things, as in the margin, because neither places 
nor things are expressed in the original ; but the for- 
mer textual reading is to be preferred before the mar- 
ginal, as being the proper sense of the original Greek 
phrase, which is, and must necessarily be so rendered 
in two other places of this same epistle, chap. iii. 10, 
and vi. 12. Another text is, 1 Cor. i. 30, which shows, 
that " Christ is of God made unto us sanctification," by 
which we are able to walk holily ; as well as wisdom, 
by the knowledge of which we are savingly wise ; and 
righteousness, by the imputation of which we are jus- 
tified ; and redemption, whereby we are redeemed from 
all misery, to the enjoyment of His glory, as our hap- 
piness in the heavenly kingdom. 

Other texts of Scripture show plainly that we re- 
ceive our holiness out of His fulness by fellowship with 
Him, John i. 16, 17. "Of His fuTness have we all 
received, and grace for grace." And it is understood 
of grace answerable to the Law given by Moses, which 
must needs include the grace of sanctification, 1 John 
i. 3, 5, 6, *7. "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, 
and with His Son, Jesus Christ. God is light. If we 
walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellow- 
ship one with another." Hence we may infer that our 
fellowship with God and Christ, includes particularly 
our having light, and walking in it holily and right- 
eously. There are other texts that reach the proof of 
the whole direction fully ; showing, not only that our 
holy endowments are made ready first in Christ for us, 
and received from Christ, but that Ave receive them by 



III.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 57 

union with Christ, Col. Hi. 10, 11. "Ye have put on 
the new man, which is renewed after the image of Him 
that created him : where Christ is all and in all," 1 
Cor. vi. 17. "He that is joined to the Lord, is one 
spirit," Gal. ii. 20. " I live ; yet not I, but Christ liv- 
eth in me," 1 John v. 11, 12. "This is the record, 
that God hath given to us eternal life ; and this life is 
in His Son. He that hath the Son, hath life ; and he 
that hath not the Son, hath not life." Can we desire 
that God should more clearly teach us, that all the 
fulness of the new man is in Christ ; and all that spir- 
itual nature and life whereby we live to God in holiness ; 
and that they are fixed in Him so inseparably, that we 
cannot have them except we be joined to Him, and 
have Himself abiding in us ? Take heed, lest, through 
prejudice, and hardness of heart, you be guilty of mak- 
ing God a liar, in not believing this eminent record, 
that God hath given to us of His Son. 

Secondly, God is pleased to illustrate this mysteri- 
ous manner of our sanctification by such a variety of 
similitudes and resemblances as may put us out of 
doubt that it is truth, and such a truth as we are highly 
concerned to know and believe. I shall endeavor to 
condense the chief of these resemblances, and the force 
of them, briefly into one sentence ; leaving it to those 
that are spiritual, to enlarge their meditation upon 
them. We receive from Christ a new holy frame and 
nature, whereby we are enabled for a holy practice, by 
union and fellowship with Him ; in like manner, 1st, 
As Christ lived in our nature by the Father, John vi. 
57. 2dly, As we receive original sin and death propa- 
gated to us from the first Adam, Rom. v. 12, 14, 16, 
17. 3dly, As the natural body receives sense, motion, 
nourishment, from the head, Col. ii. 19. 4thly, As 
the branch receives its sap, juice, and fructifying virtue 
from the vine, John xv. 4, 5. 5thly, As the wife 
bringeth forth fruit by virtue of her conjugal union 
with her husband, Rom. y\L 4. 6thly, As stones be- 



58 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

come a holy temple, by being built upon the foundation, 
and joined with the chief corner-stone, 1 Peter li. 4, 
5, 6. Vthly, As we receive the nourishing virtue of 
bread by eating it, and of wine by drinking it, John vi. 
51, bb, 57, which last resemblance is used to seal to us 
our communion with Christ in the Lord's Supper. 
Here are seven resemblances adduced, whereof some 
illustrate the mystery spoken of more fully than others : 
all of them in some way intimate, that our new life and 
holy nature is first in Christ, and then in us, by a true 
proper union and fellowship with Him. If any should 
urge, that the similitude of Adam and his seed, and of 
married couples, do make rather for a relative than a 
real union betwixt Christ and us, let them consider, 
that all nations are really made of one blood, which 
was first in Adam, Acts xvii. 26 ; and that the first 
woman was made out of the body of Adam, and was 
really " bone of his bone, and flesh of his fle^h." And 
by this first married couple, the mystical union of 
Christ and His Church is eminently resembled, (Com- 
pare Gen. ii. 22, 23, 24, with Eph. v. 30, 31, 32.) And 
yet it supposes both these resemblances in the nearness 
and fulness of them ; because " those that are joined to 
the Lord, are'/ not only one flesh, but " one spirit with 
Him/' 

Thirdly, The end of Christ's incarnation, death, 
and resurrection, was to prepare and form a holy na- 
ture and frame for us in Himself, to be communicated 
to us by union and fellowship with Him ; and not to 
enable us to produce in ourselves the first original of 
such a holy nature, by our own endeavors. 

1. By His incarnation, there was a man created in a 
new holy frame, after the holiness of the first Adam's 
frame had been marred and abolished by the first trans- 
gression ; and this new frame was far more excellent 
than ever the first Adam's was ; because man was 
really joined to God by a close, inseparable union of 
the divine and human nature in one person, Christ ; so 



III.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 59 

that these natures had communion each with the othei 
in their actings, and Christ was able to act in His hu- 
man nature, by power proper to the divine nature, 
wherein He was one God with the Father. The words 
that He spake while He was upon earth, He spoke not 
of Himself, by any mere human power, but the Father 
that dwelt in Him, He did the works, John xiv. 10. 
Why was it that Christ set up the fallen nature of man 
in such a wonderful frame of holiness, in bringing it to 
live and act by communion with God, living and acting 
in it ? One great end was, that He might communicate 
this excellent frame to His seed, that should be born 
of Him and in Him, by H s Spirit, " as the last Adam, 
the quickening Spirit :" that, " as we have borne the 
image of the earthly man, so we might also bear the 
image of the heavenly," 1 Cor. xv. 45, 46, in holiness 
here, and in glory hereafter. Thus He was born Em- 
manuel, God with us ; because the fulness of the God 
head, with all holiness, did first dwell in Him bodily 
even in His human nature ; that we might be filled up 
with that fulness in Him, Matt, i. 23, Col. ii. 9, 10. 
Thus He came down from heaven as living bread, that, 
as He lives by the Father, so those that eat Him may 
live by Him, John vi. 51, 56, by the same life of God 
in them that was first in Him. 

2. By His death, He freed Himself from the guilt 
of our sins, imputed to Him, and from all that innocent 
weakness of His human nature, which He had borne 
for a time for our sakes. And, by freeing Himself, He 
prepared a freedom for us, from our whole natural con- 
dition; which is both weak as His was, and also pol- 
luted with our guilt and sinful corruption. Thus the 
corrupt natural estate, which is called in Scripture the 
old man, was crucified together with Christ, that the 
body of sin might be destroyed. And it is destroyed 
in us, not by any wounds that we ourselves can give to 
it, but by our partaking of that freedom from it, and 
death unto it, that is already wrought out for us by 



60 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

the death of Christ ; as is signified by our baptism, 
wherein we are buried with Christ by the application 
of His death to us, Rom. vi. 2, 3, 4, 10, 11. God 
" sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, 
for sin, (or, by a sacrifice for sin, as in the margin) 
condemned sin in the flesh ; that the righteousness of 
the law might be fulfilled in us that walk not after the 
flesh, but after the Spirit," Rom. viii. 3, 5. Observe 
here, that though Christ died, that we might be justi- 
fied by the righteousness of God and of faith, not by 
our own righteousness, which is of the law, Rom. x. 4, 
5, 6, Phil. iii. 9, yet He died also, that the righteous- 
ness of the law might be fulfilled in us, and that by 
walking after His Spirit, as those that are in Christ, 
Rom. ibid. He is compared in His death to a corn of 
wheat dying in the earth, that it may propagate its 
own nature, by bringing forth much fruit, John xii. 24 
to the passover that w T as slain, that a feast might be 
kept upon it ; and to bread broken, that it may be 
nourishment to those that eat it, 1 Cor. v. 7, 8, and xi. 
24 ; to the rock smitten, that water may gush out of it 
for us to drink, 1 Cor. x. 4. He died, that He might 
make of Jew and Gentile, one new man in Himself, 
Eph. ii. 15, and that He might see His seed ; i. e., such 
as derive their holy nature from Him, Isa. liii. 10. Let 
these Scriptures be well observed, and they will suffi- 
ciently evidence that Christ died, not that we might be 
able to form a holy nature in ourselves, but that we 
might receive one ready prepared and formed in Christ 
for us, by union and fellowship with Him. 

3. By His resurrection, He took possession of spirit- 
ual life for us, as now fully procured for us, and made 
to be our right and property by the merit of His death : 
and, therefore, we are said to be "quickened together 
with Christ, even when we were dead in sins," and to 
" be raised up together," yea, and to be made " to sit 
together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus," as our 
head, while we continue upon earth in our own per- 



III.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 61 

sons, Eph. ii. 5, 6. His resurrection was our resur- 
rection to the life of holiness, as Adam's fall was our 
fall into spiritual death. And we are not ourselves 
the first makers and formers of our new holy nature, 
any more than of our original corruption ; but both are 
formed ready for us to partake of them. And, by 
union with Christ, we partake of that spiritual life that 
He took possession of for us at His resurrection, and 
thereby we are enabled to bring forth the fruits of it ; 
as the Scripture shows by the similitude of a marriage 
union, Rom. vii. 4 : " We are married to Him that is 
risen from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit 
unto God." Baptism signifies the application of 
Christ's resurrection to us as well as His death ; we 
are raised up with Him, in it, to newness of life, as 
well as buried with Him ; and we are taught thereby, 
that, because " He died unto sin once, and liveth unto 
God, we should likewise reckon ourselves to be dead 
indeed unto sin, and alive unto God, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord," Rom. vi. 4, 5, 10, 11. 

Fourthly, Our sanctiiicalion is by the Holy Ghost, 
by whom we live and walk holily, Rom. xv. 16, Gal. 
v. 25. Now, the Holy Ghost first rested on Christ in 
all fulness, that He might be communicated from Him 
to us ; as was signified to John the Baptist, by the 
similitude of the descending of a dove from the opened 
heavens, resting on Christ at His baptism, John i. 32, 
33. And, when He sanctifies us, He baptizes us unto 
Christ, and joins us to Christ by Himself, as the 
great bond of union, 1 Cor. xii. 13. So that, accord- 
ing to the scriptural phrase, it is all one, to have Christ 
Himself, and to have the Spirit of Christ, in us, Rom. 
viii. 9, 10. "He glorifieth Christ : for he receiveth 
those things that are Christ's, and showeth them to 
us," John xvi. 14, 15. He gives us an experimental 
knowledge of thoss spiritual blessings which He Him- 
self prepared for us by the incarnation, death, and res- 
urrection of Christ. 

6 



62 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

Fifthly, The effectual causes of those four principal 
endowments, which, in the foregoing direction, were 
asserted as necessary to furnish us for the immediate 
practice of holiness, are comprehended in the fulness 
of Christ, and treasured up for us in Him ; and the 
endowments themselves, together with their causes, are 
attained richly by union and fellowship with Christ. If 
we be joined to Christ, our hearts will be no longer 
left under the power of sinful inclinations, or in a mere 
indifference of inclination to good or evil ; but they will 
be powerfully endued with a power, bent, and propen- 
sity to the practice of holiness, by the Spirit of Christ 
dwelling in us, and inclining us to mind spiritual things, 
and to lust against the flesh, Rom. viii. 1, 4, 5, Gal. v. 
1 7. And we have in Christ a full reconciliation with 
God, and an advancement into higher favor with Him, 
than the first Adam had in the state of innocency ; be- 
cause the righteousness that Christ wrought out for us 
by His obedience unto death, is imputed to us for our 
justification ; which is called the righteousness of God, 
because it is wrought by one that is God as well as 
man ; and therefore it is of infinite value, to satisfy the 
justice of God for all our sins, and to procure his par- 
don and highest favor for us, 2 Cor. v. 21, Rom. v. 19. 
And, that we may be persuaded of this reconciliation, 
we receive the spirit of adoption through Christ, 
whereby we cry, Abba, Father, Rom. viii. 15. Hereby 
also we are persuaded of our future enjoyment of the 
everlasting happiness, and of sufficient strength both to 
will and to perform our duty acceptably, until we come 
to that enjoyment. For the Spirit of adoption teaches 
us to conclude, that, " if we be the children of God, 
then we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ;" 
and that " the law of the Spirit of life that is in Christ 
Jesus, maketh us free from the law of sin and death ;" 
and that nothing shall be against us, nothing shall sep- 
arate us from the love of God in Christ ; but notwith- 
standing all the opposition and difficulties we meet with. 



III.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 63 

we shall be at last, " More than conquerors through 
Him that loved us," Rom. viii. 17, 23, 35, 37, 39. 
Furthermore, this comfortable persuasion of our justi- 
fication and future happiness, and all saving privileges, 
cannot tend to licentiousness, as it is given only in this 
way of union with Christ; because it is joined insepa- 
rably with the gift of sanctitication, by the Spirit of 
Christ; so that we cannot have justification, or any 
saving privilege in Christ, except we receive Christ Him- 
self, and His holiness, as well as any other benefit ; as 
the Scripture testifies, that " There is no condemnation 
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after 
the flesh, but after the Spirit," Rom. viii. 1. 

Sixthly, Whereas, it may be doubted, whether the 
saints that lived before the coming f Christ in the 
flesh, could possibly be one flesh with Him, and receive 
a new nature by union and fellowship with Him, as 
prepared for them in His fulness ; we are to know, that 
the same Christ that took our flesh, was before Abra- 
ham, John viii. 58, and was fore-ordained before the 
foundation of the world, to be sacrificed as a lamb with- 
out blemish, t hat He might redeem us from all iniquity 
by His precic as blood, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, 20. And He 
had the same spirit then, which filled His human nature 
with all its fulness afterwards, and raised it from the 
dead ; and He gave that spirit then to the Church, 
1 Pet. i. 11, and iii. 18, 19. Now, this Spirit was able 
and effectual to unite these saints to that flesh which 
Christ was to take to Himself in the fulness of time, be- 
cause He was the same in both, and to give out to them 
that grace with which Christ would afterwards fill His 
flesh, for their salvation, as well as ours. Therefore 
David accounted Christ's flesh to be his, and spoke of 
Christ's death and resurrection as his own, beforehand, 
as fully as any of us can do, since their accomplish- 
ment, Ps. xvi. 9, 10, 11. "My flesh also shall rest 
in hope ; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell ; 
neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corrup- 



64 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

tion. Thou wilt show me the path of life." Yea, and 
saints before David's time, "did all eat of the same 
spiritual meat, and drink of the same spiritual drink," 
even of the same Christ, as we do ; and therefore were 
partakers of the same privilege of union and fellowship 
with Christ, 1 Cor. x. 3, 4. And when Christ was 
manifested in the flesh, in the fulness of time, all things 
in heaven and on earth, all the saints departed, whose 
spirits were then made perfect in heaven, as well as 
these saints that then were, or should afterward be on 
earth, were " gathered together in one," and compre- 
hended in Christ as their head, Eph. i. 10. And he 
was " the chief corner-stone, in whom the building of 
the whole Church upon the foundation of the prophets" 
before, and the Apostles after his coming, " being fitly 
framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the 
Lord," Eph. ii. 20, 21. " Jesus Christ is the same yester- 
day, and to-day, and forever," Heb. xiii. 8. His in- 
carnation, death, and resurrection, were the cause of 
all the holiness that ever was or shall be given to man, 
from the fall of Adam, to the end of the world ; and 
that by the mighty power of His Spirit, whereby all 
saints that ever were or shall be, are joined together, 
to be members of that one mystical body whereof He 
is the head. 



IV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 65 



DIRECTION IV. 

The means or instruments whereby the Spirit of God ac- 
complishes our union with Christ, and our fellowship with Him 
in all holiness, are, the Gospel whereby Christ enters into our 
hearts to work faith in us ; and faith whereby we actually re- 
ceive Christ Himself, with all His fulness, into our hearts. And 
this faith is a grace of the Spirit, whereby we heartily believe 
the Gospel, and also believe on Christ, as He is revealed and 
freely promised to us therein, for all His salvation. 

EXPLICATION. 

That which I asserted, in the foregoing direction, 
concerning the necessity of our being in Christ, and 
having Christ in us, by a mystical union, to enable us 
for a holy practice, might put us to a stand in our en- 
deavors for holiness ; because "we cannot imagine how 
we should be able to raise ourselves above our natural 
sphere, to this glorious union and fellowship, until God 
be pleased to make known to us, by supernatural reve- 
lation, the means whereby His Spirit makes us partakers 
of so high a privilege. But God is pleased to help us, 
when at a stand, to go on forward, by revealing two 
means or instruments whereby His Spirit accomplishes 
the mystical union and fellowship between Christ and 
us, and whereby rational creatures are capable of at- 
taining thereunto, by His Spirit working in them. 

One of these means is the Gospel of the grace of 
God ; wherein God makes known to us the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ, and Christ in us, the hope of 
glory, Eph. iii. 8, Col. i. 27 ; and also invites us and 
commands us to believe on Christ for His salvation : 
and encourages us by a free promise of that salvation 
to all that believe on Him, Acts xvi. 31, Rom. x. 9, 11. 
This is God's own instrument of conveyance, wherein 
He sends Christ to us to bless us with His salvation, 

G* 



66 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

Acts iii. 26. It is the ministration of the Spirit and 
of righteousness, 2 Cor. iii. 6, 8, 9. Faith comes by 
the hearing of it ; and therefore it is a great instru- 
ment whereby we are begotten in Christ, and Christ is 
formed in us, Rom. x. 16, 17, 1 Cor. iv. 15, Gal. iv. 19. 
There is no need for us to say in our hearts, " who shall 
ascend into heaven, to bring Christ down from above ? 
or, who shall descend into the deep, to bring up Christ 
from the dead ?" that we may be united, and have fel- 
lowship with Him in His death and resurrection ; for 
the word is nigh to us, the Gospel, the word of faith, 
in which Christ Himself graciously condescends to be 
nigh to us ; so that we may come at Him there, with- 
out going any further, if we desire to be joined to Him, 
Rom. x. 6, 7, 8. 

The other of these means is faith, that is wrought in 
us by the Gospel. This is our instrument of reception, 
whereby the union between Christ and us is accom- 
plished on our part, by our actual receiving Christ 
Himself, with all His fulness, into our heart; which is 
the principal subject of the present explanation. 

The faith which philosophers commonly treat of, is 
only a habit of the understanding, whereby we assent 
to a testimony upon the authority of the testifier. Ac- 
cordingly, some would have faith in Christ to be no 
more than believing the truth of things in religion, up- 
on the authority of Christ testifying them. But the 
Apostle shows, that the faith whereby we are justified, 
is faith in Christ's blood, Rom. iii. 24, 25, not only in 
His authority as a testifier. And though a mere assent 
to a testimony were sufficient faith for knowledge of 
things, at which the philosophers aimed; yet we are 
to consider, that the design of saving faith, is not only 
to know the truth of Christ and His salvation, testified 
and promised in the Gospel, but also to apprehend and 
receive Christ and His salvation, as given by and with 
the promise. Therefore, saving faith must necessarily 
contain two acts, believing the truth of the Gospel, and 



IV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 67 

believing on Christ, as promised freely to us in the 
Gospel for all salvation. By the one, it receives the 
means wherein Christ is conveyed to us ; by the other, 
it receives Christ Himself and his salvation in the 
means: as it is one act, to receive the breast or cup 
wherein milk or wine are conveyed, and another act, to 
suck the milk in the breast, and to drink the wine in 
the cup. And both these acts must be performed 
heartily, with an unfeigned love to the truth, and a de- 
sire of Christ and His salvation above all things. This 
is our spiritual appetite, which is necessary for our eat- 
ing and drinking Christ, the food of life, as a natural 
appetite is for bodily nourishment. Our assenting to, 
or believing the Gospel, must not be forced by mere 
conviction of the truth, such as wicked men and devils 
may be brought to, w r hen they had rather it were 
false ; neither must our believing on Christ be only con- 
strained for fear of damnatibn, without any hearty love 
and desire towards the enjoyment of Him; but we 
must receive the love of the truth, by relishing the 
goodness and excellency of it ; and we must " account 
all tilings loss for the excellency of the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus our Lord, and count them but dung, that 
we may win Christ, and be found in Him," 2 Thess. ii. 
10, Phil. iii. 8, 9 ; esteeming Christ to be all our sal- 
vation and happiness, Col. iii. 11 ; "in whom all ful- 
ness doth dwell," Col. i. 19. And this love must be 
to every part of Christ's salvation ; to holiness, as well 
as forgiveness of sins. We must desire earnestly, that 
God would create in us a clean heart and right spirit, 
as well as hide His face from our sins, Ps. Ii. 9, 10 ; not 
like many, that care for nothing in Christ but only de- 
liverance from hell " Blessed are they that hunger 
and thirst after righteousness, for ihey shall be filled," 
Matt. v. 6. The former of these acts immediately 
unites us to Christ, because it is terminated only on 
the means of conveyance, the Gospel : yet it is a sav- 
ing act, if it be rightly performed, because it inclines 



68 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

and disposes the soul to the latter act, whereby Christ 
Himself is immediately received into the heart. He 
that believes the Gospel with hearty love and liking, 
as the most excellent truth, will certainly with the like 
heartiness believe on Christ for His salvation. " They 
that know the name of the Lord, will certainly put 
their trust in Him," Ps. ix. 10. Therefore, in Scrip- 
ture, saving faith is sometimes described by the former 
of these acts, as if it were a mere believing the 
Gospel; sometimes by the latter, as a believing on 
Christ, or in Christ, Rom. x. 9. " If thou believe in 
thine heart, that God raised Him from the dead, thou 
shalt be saved," ver. 11. The Scripture says, "that 
whosoever believeth on Him, shall not be ashamed," 1 
John v. 1 : " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the 
Christ, is born of God." Ver. 13. " These tilings have 
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son 
of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, 
and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of 
God." 

For the better understanding of the nature of faith, 
let it be further observed, that the second and prin- 
cipal act of it, believing on Christ, includes believing 
on God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; because 
they are one and the same infinite-God, and they all 
concur in our salvation by Christ, as the only Mediator 
between God and us, "in whom all the promises of 
God are yea and amen," 2 Cor. i. 20. " By Him (as 
Mediator) we believe on God, that raised Him from the 
dead, and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope 
might be in God," 1 Pet. i. 21. And it is the same 
thing with trusting on God, or on the Lord, which is 
so highly commended in the whole Scripture, especially 
in the Old Testament ; as may easily appear, by con- 
sidering, that it has the same causes, effects, objects, 
adjuncts, opposites, and all the same circumstances, ex- 
cepting only that it had a respect to Christ, as prom- 
ised before His coming, and now it respects Him as al- 



IV.] OF SANCTIFICATION 69 

ready come in the flesh. " Believing in the Lord, and 
trusting on His salvation," are equivalent terms, that 
explain one another, Ps. lxxviii. 22. I confess, that 
trusting on things seen or known by the mere light of 
reason, as on our own wisdom, power, riches ; on 
princes, or on any "arm of flesh," may not so properly 
be called believing on them ; but trusting on a Saviour, 
as discovered by a testimony, is properly believing on 
Him. It is also the same thing that is expressed by 
the terms of resting, relying, leaning, staying ourselves 
on the Lord, called hoping in the Lord ; because it is 
the ground of that expectation which is the proper act 
of hope, though our believing and trusting be for the 
present as well as future benefit of this salvation. The 
reason why it is so commonly expressed, in the Scrip- 
tures of the New Testament, by the terms of believing 
on Christ, might be probably, because, when that part 
of Scripture was written, .there was cause in a special 
manner to urge believing the testimony that was then 
new^ly revealed by the Gospel. 

Having thus explained the nature of faith, I come 
now to assert its proper use and office in our salvation : 
that it is the means and instrument whereby we re- 
ceive Christ and all His fulness actually into our hearts. 
This excellent use and office of faith is encountered by 
a multitude of errors. Men naturally esteem, that it 
is too small and slight a thing to produce so great ef- 
fects ; as Naaman thought washing in Jordan, too 
small a matter for the cure of his leprosy. They con- 
temn the true means of entering in at the strait gate, 
because they seem too easy for such a purpose ; and 
thereby they make the entrance not only difficult, but 
impossible to themselves. Some will allow, that faith 
is the sole condition of our justification, and the instru- 
ment to receive it, according to the doctrine maintained 
formerly by the Protestants against the Papists ; but 
they account, that it is not sufficient or effectual to 



70 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

sanctif; cation, but that it rather tends to licentiousness, 
if it be not joined with some other means, that mny 
be powerful and effectual to secure a holy practice. 
They rommend this great doctrine of Protestants, as a 
comfoi table cordial for persons on their death-beds, or 
in agonies under terrors of conscience ; but thev ac- 
count, that it is not good for ordinary food, and that 
it is wisdom in ministers to preach it seldom and spar- 
ingly ; and not without some antidote or corrective, 
to prevent the licentiousness to which it tends. Their 
common antidote or corrective is, that sanctification is 
necessary to salvation as well as justification ; and that 
though we be justified by faith, yet we are sanctified 
by our own performance of the law ; and so they set 
up salvation by works, and make the grace of justifi- 
cation to be of no effect and not at all comfortable. If 
it had indeed such a malignant influence upon practice, 
it could not be owned as a doctrine proceeding from 
the most holy God ; and all the comfort that it affords 
must needs be ungrounded and deceitful. This con- 
sequence is well understood by some late refiners 
of the Protestant religion ; and therefore, they have 
thought fit to new-model this doctrine, and to make 
saving faith to be only a condition to procure a right 
and title to our justification by tbe righteousness of 
Christ, which must be performed, before we can lay 
any good claim to the enjoyment of it, and before we 
have any right to use any instrument for the actual 
receiving of it ; and this they call an accepting of, or 
receiving Christ. And, that they may the better se- 
cure the practice of holiness by their conditional faith, 
they will not have trusting in God or Christ for salva- 
tion, to be accounted the principal saving act of it ; be- 
cause, rs it seems to them, many loose wicked people 
trust ou God and Christ for their salvation, as much 
as others, and are by their confidence hardened the 
more in their wickedness ; but they had rather it 
should be obedience to all Christ's laws, at least in 



IV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 7l 

resolution ; or a consent that Christ should be their 
Lord, accepting of His terms of salvation, and a resig- 
nation of themselves to His government in all things. 
It is a sign that the Scripture form of teaching is grown 
into disesteem with our great masters of reason, when 
trusting in the Lord, so much commended in Scripture, 
is accounted a mean and ordinary thing. They en- 
deavor to affrwht us from owning faith to be an instru- 
ment of justification, by telling us, that thereby, we 
that use the instrument, are made our own principal 
justifiers to the dishonor of God ; though it might 
be easily answered, that we are made thereby only the 
principal receivers of our own justification from God, 
the giver of it, to whom all the glory belongs. 

All these errors will fall, if it can be proved, that 
such a faith as I have described, is an instrument 
whereby we actually receive Christ Himself into our 
hearts, and holiness of heart and life, as well as justi- 
fication by union and fellowship with Him. For the 
proof of it, I shall offer the following arguments. 

First, By faith we have the actual enjoyment and 
possession of Christ Himself, and not only remission of 
sins, but of life, and so of holiness. " Christ dwelleth 
in our hearts by faith," Eph. iii. 17. " We live to God ; 
and yet not we, but Christ liveth in us, by the faith of 
the Son of God," Gal. ii. 19, 20. " He that believeth on 
the Son of God, hath the Son, and everlasting life that 
is in Him," 1 John v. 12, 13, John iii. 30. "He that 
heareth Christ's word and believeth on Him that sent 
Christ hath everlasting life, and is passed from death 
unto life," John v. 24. These texts express* clearly 
such a faith as 1 have described. Therefore the effi- 
ciency or operation of faith, in order to the enjoyment 
of Christ and His fulness, cannot be the procurement 
of a bare right or title to this enjoyment ; but rather it 
must be an entrance into it, and taking possession of it 
"We have our access and entrance by faith into that 
grace of Christ wherein we stand," Rom. v. 2. 



72 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

Secondly, The Scripture plainly ascribes this effect 
to faith, that by it we receive Christ, put Him on, are 
rooted and grounded in Him ; and also that we receive 
the Spirit, remission of sins, and an inheritance among 
them which are sanctified, John i. 12, Gal. iii. 26, 27, 
Col. ii. 6, 7, Gal. iii. 14, Acts xxvi. 18. And the 
Scripture illustrates this receiving by the similitude of 
eating and drinking; "he that believeth on Christ, 
drinketh the living water of His Spirit," John vii. 37, 38, 
39. " Christ is the bread of life ; His flesh is meat in- 
deed, and His blood is drink indeed." And the way 
to eat and drink it, is to believe in Christ; and by so 
doing, we dwell in Christ and Christ in us, and have 
everlasting life, John vi. 35, 47, 48, 54, 55, 56. How 
can it be taught more clearly, that we receive Christ 
himself properly into our souls by faith, as we receive 
food into our bodies by eating and drinking, and that 
Christ is as truly united to us thereby as our food, 
when we eat or drink it? So, faith cannot be a con- 
dition to procure a mere right or title to Christ, any 
more than eating or drinking procures a mere right or 
title to our food ; but it is rather an instrument to re- 
ceive it, as the mouth that eats and drinks the food. 

Thirdly, Christ with all His salvation, is freely given 
by the grace of God to all that believe on Him : for 
" we are saved by grace through faith : and that not 
<rf ourselves; it is the gift of God," Eph. ii. 8, 9. " We 
are justified freely by His grace through faith in His 
blood," Rom. iii. 24, 25. The Holy Ghost, who is the 
bond of union between Christ and us, is a gift, Acts 
ii. 38. Now, that which is a gift of grace, must not 
at all be earned, purchased or procured by any work 
or works performed as a condition to get a light or 
title to it; and therefore faith itself must not be ac- 
counted such a conditional work. " If it be by grace, 
it is no more of works ; otherwise grace is no more 
grace," Rom. xi.* 6. The condition of a free gift is 
only, take and have. And in this sense, we will 



IV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 73 

readily acknowledge faith to be a condition, allowing 
a liberty in terras where we agree in the thing ; but 
if you give a peppercorn to purchase a title to it, 
then you spoil the freeness of the gift. The free offer 
of Christ to you is sufficient to confer upon you a right, 
yea, to make it your duty to receive Christ and His sal- 
vation as yours. And because we receive Christ by 
faith as a free gift, therefore we may account faith 
to be the instrument, and, as it were, the hand where- 
by we receive Him. 

Fourthly, It has been already proved, that all spir- 
itual life and holiness is treasured up in the fulness of 
Christ, and communicated to us by union with Him. 
Therefore the accomplishing of union with Christ, is 
the first work of saving grace in our hearts. And faith 
itself being a holy grace, and part of spiritual life, can- 
not be in us before the beginning of this union ; but 
rather it is given to us, and wrought in the very work- 
ing of the union. And the way wherein it conduces 
to the union cannot be by procuring a mere title to 
Christ as a condition, because then it should be per- 
formed before the uniting work begins ; but rather by 
being an instrument, whereby we may actively receive 
and embrace Christ, who is already come into the soul, 
to take possession of it as His own habitation. 

Fifthly, True saving faith, such as I have described, 
has, in its nature and manner of operation, a peculiar 
aptitude or fitness to receive Christ and His salvation, 
and to unite our souls to Him ; and to furnish the soul 
with a new holy nature, and to bring forth a holy 
practice by union and fellowship with Him. God has 
fitted natural instruments for their office, as the hands, 
feet, &c, so that we may know by their nature and 
natural manner of operation for what use they are de- 
signed. In like manner we may know, that faith is 
an instrument formed on purpose for our union with 
Christ, and our sanctification, if we consider what a 
peculiar fitness it has for the work. The discovery of 

1 



74 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

this is of great use for the understanding of the mj'S- 
terious manner of our receiving and practising all holi- 
ness by union and fellowship with Christ, by this pre- 
cious grace of faith. And, to make you, as it were, to 
see with your eyes, that it is such an instrument as I 
have asserted it to be, I shall present it to your view in 
three particulars. 

1. The grace of faith is as well fitted for the soul's 
receiving Christ and union with Him, as any instrument 
of the body is for receiving and closing with things 
needful for it. By the very act of hearty trusting or 
believing on Christ for all salvation and happiness, the 
soul casts and puts away from itself, everything that 
keeps it at a distance from Christ; as all confidence in 
our strength, endeavors, works, privileges ; or in any 
worldly pleasures, profits, honors ; or in any human 
helps and succors for our happiness and salvation : be- 
cause such confidences are inconsistent with our con- 
fidence in Christ, for all salvation. Paul by his con- 
fidence in Christ was taken off from all confidence in 
the flesh ; he suffered the loss of glorying in his privi- 
leges and legal righteousness, and counted all other 
enjoyments in matters of the world or of religion, to 
be but " dung, that he might win Christ, and be found 
i» Him," Phil. iii. 3, 6, 7, 8, 9. The voice of faith, is 
"Ashur shall not save us; we will not ride upon 
horses, neither will we say any more to the work of 
our hands, Ye are our gods ; for in Thee the fatherless 
findeth mercy," Hos. xiv. 3. "We have no might 
against this great company of our spiritual enemies; 
nather know we what to do ; but our eves are upon 
Thee," 2 Chron. xx. 12. 

I might multiply places of Scripture to show what a 
self-emptying grace faith is, and how it casts other 
confidences out of the soul, by getting above them to 
Christ, as the only happiness and salvation. The same 
act of trusting or believing on Christ, or on God, is the 
very manner of our soul's coming to Christ, John vi. 



IV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 75 

35 ; drawing near to the Lord, Ps. lxxiii. 28 ; fleeing 
unto the Lord to hide us, Ps. cxliii. 9 ; making our 
refuge in the shadow of His wings, Ps. lvii. 1 ; stay- 
ing ourselves and our minds upon the Lord, Isa. 1. 10, 
and xxvi. 3 ; laying hold on eternal life, 1 Tim. vi. 12 ; 
lifting up our souls to the Lord, Ps. xxv. 1 ; rolling 
our way, and casting our burden upon the Lord, Ps. 
xxxvii. 5, and lv. 22 ; and of our eating and drinking 
Christ, as has already appeared. Let us consider, that 
Christ and His salvation cannot be seen, or handled, or 
attained to, by any bodily motion, but are revealed and 
promised to us in the Word. Now, let any invent, if 
they can, any way for the soul to exercise any motion 
or activity in receiving this unseen promised salvation, 
besides believing the Word, and trusting on Christ for 
the benefit promised. If Christ were to be earned by 
works, or any other kind of conditional faith, yet a faith 
must be instrumental to receive Him. Some think love 
as lit to be the uniting grace ; but I have showed that 
love to Christ's salvation is an ingredient of faith. And 
though love be an appetite to union, yet we have no 
other likely way to fill this appetite, while we are in 
this world, besides trust on Christ for all His benefits, 
as He is promised in the Gospel. 

2. There is in this saving faith a natural tendency to 
furnish the soul with a holy frame and nature, and all 
endowments necessary thereunto, out of the fulness of 
Christ. A hearty, affectionate trusting on Christ for 
all His salvation, as freely promised to us, has, naturally, 
enough in it to work in our souls a rational bent and in- 
chnation to, and ability for, the practice of all holiness ; 
because it comprehends in it a trusting, " that, through 
Christ, we are dead to sin, and alive to God ;." that our 
"old man is crucified," Rom. vi. 2, 3, 4 ; and that we 
live by the Spirit, Gal. v. 25 ; and that we have for- 
giveness of sin ; and that God is our God, Ps. xxxL 
14; and that we have in the Lord righteousness and 
strength, whereby we are able to do all things, Isa. xlv. 



76 THE G0SPEL-MYSTER5T [DIRECT 

24, Phil. iv. 13 ; and that we shall be gloriously happy 
in the enjoyment of Christ to all eternity, Phil. iii. 20, 
21. When the saints in Scripture speak so highly of 
such glorious spiritual privileges, as I have here named, 
they acquaint us with the familiar sense and language 
of their faith, trusting on God and Christ, and they 
give us but an explication of the nature and contents 
of it ; and they speak of nothing more than what they 
receive out of the fulness of Christ. And how can we 
otherwise judge, but that those that have a hearty love 
to Christ, and can, upon a good ground, think and 
speak such high things concerning themselves, must 
needs be heartily disposed and mightily strengthened 
for the practice of holiness ? 

3. Because faith has such a natural tendency to 
dispose and strengthen the soul for the practice of holi- 
ness, we have cause to judge it a meet instrument tc 
accomplish every part of that practice in an acceptable 
manner. Those that with a due affection believe stead' 
fastly on Christ for the free gift of all His salvation, 
may find, by experience, that they are carried forth, by 
that faith, according to the measure of its strength or 
weakness, to love God heartily, because God has loved 
them first, 1 John iv. 19; to praise Him, to pray unto 
Him in the name of Christ, Eph. t. 20 ; John xvi. 26, 
21 ; to be patient with cheerfulness, under all afflictions, 
giving thanks to the Father, who hath called them to 
His heavenly inheritance, Col. i. 11, 12 ; to love all the 
children of God, out of love to their heavenly Father, 
1 John v. 1 ; to walk as Christ walked, 1 John ii. 6 ; 
and to give themselves up to live to Christ in all things, 
as constrained by His love in dying for them, 2 Cor. v. 
14. We have a cloud of witnesses concerning the ex- 
cellent works that were produced by faith, Heb. xi. 
And though trusting on Christ be accounted such a 
slight and contemptible thing, yet I know no work of 
obedience, which it is not able to produce. And note 
the excellent manner of working by faith. By it we 



XV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. , T7 

live and act in all good works, as people in Christ, as 
raised above ourselves and our natural state, by parta- 
king of Him and His salvation ; and w6 do all in His 
name, and on His account. This is the practice of that 
mysterious manner of living to God in holiness, which 
is peculiar to the Christian religion, wherein we live ; 
"and yet not we, but Christ liveth in us," Gal. ii. 20. 
And who can imagine any other way but this for such 
a practice, while Christ and His salvation are known to 
us only by the Gospel. 

The explanation that I have made of the nature and 
office of true faith, and of its aptitude for its office, is 
sufficient to evidence that it is a most holy faith, as it 
is called, Jude, ver. 20 ; and that such a trusting on 
Christ as I have described, in its own nature, cannot 
have any tendency to licentiousness, but only to holi- 
ness ; and that it roots and grounds us in holiness, 
more than the mere accepting of any terms of salvation, 
and consenting to have Christ for our Lord, can do ; 
and is more powerful to secure a holy practice, than 
any of those resolutions of obedience, or resignating 
acts, that some would have to be the great conditions 
of our salvation ; which are indeed no better than hypo- 
critical acts, if they be not produced by this faith. 
There is indeed a counterfeit dead faith, such as wicked 
men may have ; and, if that tend to licentiousness, let 
not true faith be blamed ; but rather mark the descrip- 
tion of it which I have given, that you may not be de- 
ceived with a counterfeit faith instead of it. 

I shall add something concerning the efficient cause 
of this excellent grace, and of our union with Christ by 
it; whereby it may appear, that it is not so slight and 
easy a way of salvation as some may imagine. The 
author and finisher of our faith, and of our union and 
fellowship with Christ, by faith, is no less than the in- 
finite Spirit of God, and God and Christ Himself by the 
Spirit ; for, " by one Spirit we are all baptized into 
one body of Christ and are all made to drink into one 



78 4 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

Spirit," 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13. " God granteth us, according 
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with all 
might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may 
dwell in our hearts by faith, " Eph. iii. 16, 17. If we 
do but consider the great effect of faith, that by it we 
are raised to live above our natural condition, by Christ 
and His Spirit living in us, we cannot rationally conceive, 
that it should be within the power of nature to do any- 
thing that advances us so high. If God had done no 
more for us in our sanctification, than to restore us to 
our first natural holiness, yet this could not have been 
done without putting forth His own almighty power to 
quicken those that are dead in sin ; how much more is 
this almighty power needful to advance us to this won- 
derful new kind of frame, wherein we live and act 
above all the power of nature, by a higher principle of 
life than was given to Adam in innocency, even by 
Christ and His Spirit living and acting in us ? The 
natural man brings forth his offspring according to his 
image, by that natural power of multiplying, with 
which God blessed him at his first creation ; but the 
second Adam brings forth His offspring new born ac- 
cording to His image, only by the Spirit, John iii. 5. 
" As many as receive Him, even those that believe on 
His name, are born not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," John i. 12, 
13. Christ took His own human nature into personal 
union with Himself, in the womb of the virgin Mary, 
by the Holy Ghost coming upon her, and the power 
of the Highest overshadowing her, the same power 
whereby the world was created, Luke i. 35. So He 
takes us into mystical union and fellowship with Him- 
self, by no less than an infinite creating power ; for " we 
are the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus 
unto good works," Eph. ii. 10 ; " and if any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creature," 2 Cor. v. 17. 

For the accomplishing this great work of our new 
creation in Christ, the Spirit of God first works upon 



IV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 79 

our hearts by and with the Gospel, to produce in us 
the grace of faith. For, if the Gospel should come to 
us in word only, and not in power, and in the Holy 
Ghost, Paul might labor to plant and Apollos to water, 
without an}' success, because we cannot receive the 
things of the Spirit of God ; yea, we shall account 
them foolishness, until the Spirit of God enable us to 
discern them, 1 Thess. i. 5, 1 Cor. iii. 6, and ii. 14. 
We shall never come to Christ by any teaching of man, 
except we also hear and learn of the Father, and be 
drawn to Christ by His Spirit, John vi. 44, 45. And, 
when saving faith is wrought in us, the same Spirit 
gives us fast hold of Christ by it. As He opens the 
mouth of faith to receive Christ, so He fills it with 
Christ; or else the acting of faith would be like a 
dream of one that thinks he eats and drinks, and, when 
he awakes, finds himself empty. The same Spirit of 
God both gave that faith whereby miracles are wrought, 
and worked also the miracles by it ; so also the same 
Spirit of Christ works saving faith in us, and answers 
the aim and end of that faith, by giving us union and 
fellowship with Christ by it : so that none of the glory 
of this work belongs to faith, but only to Christ and 
His Spirit. And, indeed, faith is of such an humble, 
self-denying nature, that it ascribes nothing that it re- 
ceives to itself, but all to the grace of God ; and there- 
fore God saves us by faith, that all the glory may be 
ascribed to His free grace, Rom. iv. 16. If Adam had 
strength enough in innocency to perform the duty of 
faith as well as we, yet, it will not follow, that he had 
strength enough to raise himself above his natural state, 
into union with Christ ; because faith does not unite us 
to Christ by its own virtue, but by the power of the 
Spirit working by it, and with it. Thus are we first 
passive and then active, in this great work of mystical 
union ; we are first apprehended of Christ, and then 
we apprehend Christ. Christ enters first into the soul, 
to join Himself to it, by giving it the spirit of faith ; and 



80 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

so the soul receives Christ and His Spirit by their owr 
power ; as the sun first enlightens our eyes, and then 
we can see it by its own light. We may note further, 
to the glory of the grace of God, that this union 
is fully accomplished by Christ, giving the spirit of 
faith to us, even before we act that faith in the recep- 
tion of Him ; because, by this grace or spirit of faith, 
the soul is inclined and disposed to an active receiving 
of Christ. And, no doubt, Christ is thus united to 
many infants, who have the spirit of faith, and yet can- 
not act faith, because they are not come to the. use of 
their understandings ; but those of riper years, that are 
ioined passively to Christ by the spirit of faith, will 
also join themselves with Him actively, by the act of 
faith : and, until they act this faith, they cannot know 
or enjoy their union with Christ, and the comfort of it, 
or make use of it, in acting any other duties of holiness 
acceptably in this life. 



direction v. 

We cannot attain to the practice of true holiness by any of 
our endeavors, while we continue in our natural state, and are 
not partakers of a new state, by union and fellowship with Christ 
through faith. 

EXPLICATION. 

It is evident, all have not that precious faith whereby 
Christ dwells in our hearts ; yea. the number of those 
that hnve it is small, comparatively to the " whole world 
that lieth in wickedness/' 1 John v. 19, 20, and many of 
those that at length attain unto it, do continue without 
it for some considerable time, Eph. ii. 12. And though 
some may have the spirit of faith given to them from 



V.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 81 

their mother's womb, (as John the Baptist, Luke i. 15, 
44,) yet even in them there is a natural being by gen- 
eration, before there can be a spiritual being by regen- 
eration, 1 Cor. xv. 46. Hence arises the consideration 
of two states or conditions of the children of men, in 
matters that appertain to God and godliness ; the one 
of which is vastly different from the other. Those that 
have the happiness of a new birth and creation in 
Christ by faith, are thereby placed in a very excellent 
state, consisting in the enjoyment of the righteousness 
of Christ, for their justification ; and of the Spirit of 
Christ, to live by, in holiness here, and glory forever ; 
as has already appeared. Those that are not in Christ, 
by faith, cannot be in a better state than that which 
they received, together with their nature, from the first 
Adam, by being once born and created in Him, or than 
they can attain to by the power of that nature, with 
any such help as God is pleased to afford it. This latter 
I call a natural state ; because it consists in such things 
as we have either received by natural generation or can 
attain to by natural power through divine assistance ; 
as the Scripture calls man in this state the natural 
man, 1 Cor. ii. 14. The former I call a new state, be- 
cause we enter into it by a new birth in Christ ; and I 
may call it a spiritual state, according to the Scripture ; 
because it is received from Christ the quickening Spirit ; 
and the natural and spiritual man are opposed, 1 Cor. 
ii. 14, 15 ; though some call both these states spiritual, 
because the everlasting weal or woe of the soul or 
spirit of man is chiefly concerned in them. 

It is a common error of those that are in a corrupt 
natural state, that they seek to reform their lives ac- 
cording to the law, without any thoughts that their 
state must be changed, before their lives can be changed 
from sin to righteousness. The heathens, that knew 
nothing of a new state in Christ, were urged by their 
own consciences to practise several duties of the law, 
according to the knowledge they had by the light 



82 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

of nature, Rom. ii. 14, 15. Israel, according to the 
flesh, had a zeal of God and godliness, and endeavored 
to practise the written law, at least in external per- 
formances, while they were enemies to the faith of 
Christ. And Paul attained so far that he was blame- 
less in these external performances in the righteousness 
of the law, while he persecuted the Church of Christ, 
Phil. iii. 6. Some are so near the kingdom of God, 
while they continue in a natural state, that they are 
convinced of the spirituality of the law, that it binds us 
principally to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, 
and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, 
and to perform universal obedience to God, in all our 
inward thoughts and affections, as well as in all our 
outward actions, and to do all the duties that we owe 
to our neighbor out of this hearty love, Mark xii. 33, 34. 
And they struggle and labor, with great earnestness, to 
subdue their inward thoughts and affections to the law 
of God, and to abstain, not only from some sins, but 
from all known sins, and to perform every known duty 
of the law with their whole heart and soul, as they 
think ; and are so active and intent in their devout 
practice, that they overwork their natural strength, and 
so fervent in their zeal that they are ready even to kill 
their bodies with fastings and other macerations, that 
they may kill their sinful lusts. They are strongly 
convinced, that holiness is absolutely necessary to sal- 
vation, and deeply affected with the terrors of damna- 
tion ; and yet they were never so much enlightened in 
the mystery of the Gospel, as to know that a new state 
*n Christ is necessary to a new life ; therefore they 
labor in vain to reform their natural state, instead of 
[jetting above it in Christ. And some of these, when 
they have misspent many years in striving against the 
stream of their lusts without any success, do at last 
fall miserably into despair of ever attaining to holiness, 
and turn to wallowing in the mire of their lusts, or 
are fearfully swallowed up with horror of conscience. 



V.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 83 

There are several false opinions whereby such ignorant 
zealots encourage themselves in their fruitless endeav. 
ors. Some of them judge, that they are able to prac- 
tise holiness because they are not compelled to sin, 
and may abstain from it, if they will. To this they 
add, that Christ, by the merit of His death, has re- 
stored that freedom of will to good, which was lost by 
the fall, and has set nature upon its legs again ; and 
that, if they endeavor to do what lies in them, Christ 
will do the rest, by assisting them with the supplies 
of His saving grace ; so they trust upon the grace of 
Christ to help them in their endeavors. They plead 
further, that it would not consist with the justice of 
God to punish them for sin, if they could not avoid it ; 
and that it would be in vain for the ministers of the 
gospel to preach to them, and exhort them to any sav- 
ing duty, if they cannot perform it. , They produce ex- 
amples of heathens, and of such as had the name of 
Christians, without any acquaintance with the faith that 
I have described, who have attained to a great excel- 
lency in religious words and works. 

My work at present is, to deliver those ignorant zeal- 
ots from their fruitless tormenting labors, by bringing 
them to despair of the attainment of holiness in a nat- 
ural state, that they may seek it only in a new state by 
faith in Christ, where they may certainly find it with- 
out such tormenting labor and anxiety of spirit. For 
this end, I shall confirm the truth asserted in the direc- 
tion, and fortify it against the before-mentioned false 
opinions, by the ensuing considerations. 

First, The foundation of this assertion is firmly laid 
in the directions already explained, and confirmed by 
many places of Scripture. For, if all endowments ne- 
cessary to enable us for a holy practice, are to be had 
only in a state of union and fellowship with Christ by 
faith, and faith itself, not by the natural power of free 
will, but by the power of Christ, coming into the soul 



84 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

by His Spirit, to unite us with Himself ; who does not 
see that the attainment of true holiness by any of 
our most vigorous endeavors, while we continue in our 
natural condition, is altogether hopeless? I need add 
no more, were it not to show more fully what abun- 
dance of light the Scripture affords to guide us aright 
in this part of our way, that those who wander out of 
it, by following any false light of their own, or other 
corrupted judgments, may find themselves the more 
inexcusable. 

Secondly, It is evident, that we cannot practise true 
holiness, while we continue in a natural state ; because 
we must be " born again of water and of the Spirit, or 
else we cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John 
iii. 3, 5 ; " and we are created in Christ Jesus unto good 
works, which God hath before ordained, that we should 
walk in them," Eph. ii. 10. If we could love God and 
our neighbor as the law requires, without a new birth 
and creation, we might live without them ; for Christ 
has said, " This do, and thou shalt live," Luke x. 28. 
Now a new birth and creation is more than a mere re- 
forming and repairing our natural state. If we were 
put into a certain state and condition by the first birth 
and creation, much more are we by the second. For 
the first produces the substance of— -a man, as well as a 
state ; the second has nothing to produce, but a new 
state of the same person. And note, that we were 
first created and born in Adam the natural man, but 
our new birth and creation is in Christ the spiritual 
man. And, if any man be in Christ he is in a new 
state, far different from the state of Adam before the 
fall ; he is wholly a new creature ; as it is written, M old 
things are past away ; behold all things are become 
new," 2 Cor. v. 17. 

Thirdly, It is positively asserted by the Apostle 
Paul, that " those that are in the flesh, cannot please 
God," Rom. viii. 8. Many are too remiss and negligent 
in considering the sense of this gospel-phrase, what it 



V.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 85 

is to be " in the flesh." They understand no more by it 
than to be sinful, or to be addicted inordinately to 
please the sensitive appetite. They should consider, 
that the Apostle speaks here of " being in the flesh," 
as the cause of sinfulness ; as in the next verse, he 
speaks of being in the spirit, as the cause of. holiness; 
and, whatever cause it be, it must needs be distinct 
from its effect. Sin is a property of the flesh, or 
something that dwells in the flesh, Rom. vii. 1 8 ; and 
therefore it is not the flesh itself. The flesh is that 
which "lusteth against the Spirit," Gal. v. 17; and, 
therefore, it is not merely sinful lusting. The true in- 
terpretation is, that by flesh is meant the nature of 
man, as it is corrupted by the fall of Adam, and prop- 
agated from him to us, in that corrupt state, by natural 
generation ; and to " be in the flesh," is to be in a nat- 
ural state ; as to " be in the Spirit," is to be in a new 
state, by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in ns, Rom. viii. 
9. The corrupt nature is called flesh, because it is re- 
ceived by carnal generation ; and the new nature is 
called spirit, because it is received by spiritual regen- 
eration. "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh ; 
and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit," John iii. 
6. So the Apo§tle, if he be rightly understood, has 
said enough to make us despair utterly of attaining to 
true holiness, while we continue in a natural state. 

Fourthly, The Apostle testifies, that "those that 
have been taught as the truth is in Jesus, have learned 
to avoid the former sinful conversation, by putting off 
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceit- 
ful lusts ; and by putting on the new man, which after 
God is created in righteousness and true holiness," Eph. 
iv. 21, 22, 24. Putting off the old man, and putting 
on the new man, is the same with not being in the flesh, 
but in the Spirit, in the foregoing testimony ; that is, 
putting off our natural state, and putting on a new 
state, by union and fellowship with Christ. The 
Arostle himself shows, that by the new man is meant 



86 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

that excellent state where Christ is all, and in all, Col. 
iii. 11. Therefore, by the old man must needs be 
meant the natural state of man, wherein he is without 
the saving enjoyment of Christ ; which is called old 
because of the new state to which believers are brought 
by their regeneration in Christ. This is a manner of 
expression peculiar to the Gospel, as well as the for- 
mer, and as slightly considered by those that think that 
the Apostle's meaning is only, that they should put 
off sinfulness, and put on holiness in their conversa- 
tion ; and so they think to become new men by turn- 
ing over a new leaf in their practice, and leading a new 
life. Let them learn here, that the old and new man 
are two contrary states, containing in them not only sin 
and holiness, but all other things that dispose and in- 
cline us to the practice of them ; and that the old man 
must be put off as crucified with Christ, before we can 
be freed from the practice of sin, Rom. vi. 6, 7. And 
therefore we cannot lead a new life, until we have 
first gotten a. new state by faith in Christ. Let me add 
here, that the meaning of the Apostle is the same, 
Rom. xiii. 12, 13, 14, where he directs us to put on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, as the means whereby we may 
cast off the deeds of darkness, and to walk honestly, as 
in the daytime ; not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. 

Fifthly, Our natural state has several properties 
that wholly disable us for the practice of holiness, and 
enslave us to the practice of sin, while we continue in 
it. Here I shall show, that the old man, the flesh, or 
natural state, is not only sin, as some would have it ; 
but it contains in it several things, which I shall name, 
that make it to be sinful, besides several other things 
that make it miserable. I have showed, that in Christ 
we have all endowments necessary to frame us for 
godliness ; so, in our fleshly state, we have all things 
contrary to that holy frame. One thing belonging tc 
our natural state, is the guilt of sin, even of Adam's 
first sin, and of the sinful depravation of our nature, and 



V.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 87 

of all our own actual transgressions ; and therefore we 
are by nature the children of wrath, Eph. ii. 3, and un- 
der the curse of God. The benefit of remission of our 
sins, and freedom from condemnation, is not given to 
us in the flesh, or in a natural state, but only in Christ, 
Rom. viii. 1, Eph. i. 7. And can we imagine, that a 
man should be able to prevail against sin, while God 
is against him and curses him ? Another property, in- 
separable from the former, is, an evil conscience, which 
denounces the wrath of God against us for sin, and in- 
clines us to abhor Him, as our enemy, rather than to 
love Him, as hath been showed ; or, if it be a blind con- 
science, it hardens us the more in our sins. A third prop- 
erty is, an evil inclination, tending only to sin ; which, 
therefore, is called "sin that dwelleth in us, and the 
law of sin in our members/' that powerfully subdues 
and captivates us to the service of sin, Rom. vii. 20, 23. 
It is a fixed propensity to lust against the law without 
any deliberation ; and therefore its lustings are not to 
be prevented by any diligence or watchfulness. " The 
mind of the flesh is enmity against God : for it is not 
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,' r Rom. 
viii. 7. How vain, then, is it to plead, that they can 
do no good, if they will, when their minds, and the 
will itself, are enslaved in sin. A fourth property, is, 
subjection to the power of the devil, who is the god of 
this world, that has blinded the minds of all that be- 
lieve not, 2 Cor. iv. 4, and will certainly conquer all 
whom he fights with upon his own ground ; that is, in 
a natural state. And, from all these properties, we 
may well conclude, that our natural state has the prop- 
erty never to be good, to be stark dead in sin, Eph. ii. 
1, according to the sentence denounced against the first 
sin of mankind in Adam. " In the day that thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die," Gen. ii. 17. For you 
can no more bring it to holiness, by any the most ve- 
hement motives and endeavors, than you can bring a 
dead carcass to life, by chafing and rubbing it. You 



88 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

can stir up no strength or fortifying grace in the nat- 
ural man by such motives and endeavors ; because 
there is no strength in him to be stirred up, Rom. v. 6. 
Though you do all that lies in you to the utmost, while 
you are in the flesh you can do nothing but sin ; for 
there is no good thing in you : as the Apostle Paul 
shows by his own experience : " I know that in me, 
(that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing," Rom. 
vii. 18. 

Sixthly, We have no good ground to trust on Christ, 
to help us to will or to do that which is acceptable to 
Him, while we continue in our natural state, or imagine 
that freedom of will to holiness is restored to us by the 
merit of His death. For, as it hath been already 
showed, Christ aimed at a higher end, in His incarna- 
tion, death, and resurrection, than the restoration of 
the decay and ruins of our natural state. He aimed to 
advance us, by union and fellowship with Himself, to 
a new state, more excellent than the state of nature 
ever was, that we might live to God, not by the power 
of a natural free will, but by the power of His Spirit 
living and acting in us. So we may conclude, that our 
natural state is irrecoverable and desperate, because 
Christ, the only Saviour, did not aim at the recovery 
of it. It is neither holy nor happy, but subject to sin, 
and to all miseries, as long as it remains. Even those 
that are in a new state in Christ, and serve the law of 
God with their mind, do yet with their flesh serve the 
law of sin, Rom. vii. 25. As far as it remains in them, 
it lusts against the Spirit, Gal. v. 17, and it remains 
dead, because of sin, even when the Spirit is life to 
them, because of righteousness, Rom. viii. 10, and must 
be wholly abolished by death, before we can be per- 
fected in that holiness and happiness that is by faith in 
Christ. After God had promised salvation by Christ, 
the seed of the woman, He placed cherubim and a 
flaming sword to keep man out of paradise ; thereby 
teaching him, that his first state was lost without hope, 



V.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 89 

and that the happiness intended for him was wholly 
new. Our old natural man was not revived and re- 
formed by the death of Christ, but crucified together 
with Him, and therefore to be abolished and destroyed 
out of us by virtue of His death, Rom. vi. 6. It is like 
the part of a garment infected with the plague of lep- 
rosy, which was to be rent off as incurable, that the 
garment might be clean, Lev. xiii. 56. "If Christ be 
not in us, we are reprobates," 2 Cor. xiii. 5 ; that is, we 
are in a state which God has rejected from partaking 
of His salvation ; so that we are not to expect any 
assistance from God to make us holy in it, but rather 
to deliver us from it. 

Seventhly, This does not at all discharge those that 
are in a natural state from obligation to holiness of life, 
nor render them excusable for their sins at the tribu- 
nal of God's justice. For " God hath made man up- 
right, but they sought out many inventions," Eccles. 
vii. 29. Observe well the words of this text, and you 
will find, that all they who have sought out many in- 
ventions, rather than upright walking, are comprehended 
in man that was at first made upright. And man, in 
the text, signifies all mankind. The first Adam was 
all mankind, as Jacob and Esau were two nations in 
the womb of Rebecca, Gen. xxv. 23. God made us 
all, in our first parent, according to His own image, 
able and inclined to do His law ; and, in that pure na- 
ture, our obligation to obedience was first laid upon us, 
and the first wilful transgression, whereby our first pa- 
rent bereaved himself of the image of God, and brought 
upon himself the sentence of death, was our sin as well 
as his ; for, " in one man, Adam, all have sinned, and so 
death is passed upon all," Rom. v. 12 ; because all 
mankind were in Adam's loins, when the first sin was 
committed ; even as Levi may be said to have paid 
tithes in Abraham before he was born ; because, when 
his father Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec, he was 
yet in his loins, Heb. vii. 9, 10. That the promise of 

8* 



00 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

God, that He will not charge the iniquities of parents 
upon their children, is a promise belonging to the new- 
covenant confirmed in the blood of Christ ; and it is 
yea and amen to us only in Christ, in whom we have 
another nature than that which our parents conveyed 
to us ; so that we cannot justly claim the benefit of it 
in our old natural state, Jer. xxxi. 29, 30, 31 ; and 
2 Cor. i. 20. Those that account their impotency a 
sufficient plea to excuse them or others, show that they 
were never truly humbled for that great wilful trans- 
gression of all mankind in the loins of Adam. Inability 
to pay debt, excuses not a debtor who has lavished 
away his estate ; neither does drunkenness excuse the 
mad actings of a drunkard, but rather aggravates his 
sin. And our impotency consists not in a mere want 
of executive power, but in the want of a willing mind, 
to practise true holiness and righteousness. Naturally 
we love it not, we like it not, but lust against it, Gal. 
v. 17, and hate the light, John iii. 20. If men in a 
natural state had a heart}?- love and liking to true holi- 
ness, and a desire and serious endeavor to practise 
it, out of hearty love, and yet failed in the event, then 
they might, under some pretence, plead for their ex- 
cuse, (as some do for them,) that they were compelled 
to sin by an inevitable fate. But none have just cause 
to plead any such thing for their excuse ; because none 
endeavor to practise true holiness out of hearty love to 
it, until the good work be begun in their souls ; and, 
when God has begun, he will perfect it, Phil. i. 6, and 
will, in the mean time, accept their ready mind, though 
they fall short in performance, 2 Cor. viii. 12. " How 
abominable then and filthy is man, that drinketh ini- 
quity as water," Job xv. 16, that cannot practise holi- 
ness, because he will not. This is their just condem- 
nation, "that they love darkness rather than light. " 
They deserve to be partakers with the devils in tor- 
ments, as they partake with them in evil lusts ; and 



V.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 91 

their inability to do good, will no more excuse them, 
than it excuses the devils. 

Eighthly, Neither will this assertion make it a vain 
thing to preach the Gospel to natural people, and to 
exhort them to true repentance, and faith in Christ for 
their conversion and salvation. For the d-esign of our 
preaching is, not to bring them to holiness in their nat- 
ural state, but to raise them above it, and to present 
them perfect in Christ in the performance of those 
duties, Col. i. 28. And though they cannot perform 
those duties by their natural strength, yet the Gospel 
is made effectual for their conversion and salvation, by 
the power of the Holy Ghost which accompanies the 
preaching of it, to quicken those that are dead in sin, 
and to create them anew in Christ, by giving to them 
repentance unto life, and a lively faith in Christ. The 
Gospel comes to the elect of God, not only in word, 
but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in such 
assurance, that they receive it with joy of the Holy 
Ghost, 1 Thess. i. 5. 6. " The gospel is the minis- 
tration of the Spirit, that giveth life," 2 Cor. iii. 6-8. 
" It is mighty through God," 2 Cor. x. 4. It depends 
not at all upon the power of our free will, to make 
it successful for our conversion ; but it conveys into 
the soul that life and power whereby we receive and 
obey it. Christ can make those that are dead in sin 
to hear His voice, and live, John v. 25. Therefore, He 
can speak to them by His Gospel, and command them 
to repent and believe with good success, as well as he 
could say to dead carcasses, Talitha cumi, Mark v. 41 ; 
" Lazarus, come forth," John xi. 43, 44 ; and to the sick 
of the palsy, "Arise, take up thy bed, and go into 
thine house," Matt. ix. 6. 

Ninthly, There is no reason that the examples of 
heathen philosophers, or any Jews, or Christians by 
outward profession, that have lived without the saving 
knowledge of God in Christ, should move us by their 
wise sayings and renowned attainments, in the practice 



92 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

of devotion ar.d morality, to recede from this truth, 
that has been so fully confirmed out of the Holy Scrip 
tures. Have we not cause to judge, that the apostle 
Paul, while he was a zealous Pharisee, and at least 
some few of the great multitude of the Jews in his 
time, that were zealous of the law, and had the in- 
struction of the Holy Scriptures, attained as near to 
that true holiness as the heathen philosophers, or any 
others in their natural state ? Yet Paul, after he was 
enlightened with the saving knowledge of Christ, 
judged himself the chief of sinners, in his highest for- 
mer attainments ; though, in the judgment of others, 
he was blameless touching the righteousness which is 
in the law ; and he found it necessary to begin to live 
to God in a new way by faith in Christ, and to suffer 
the loss of all his former attainments, and to count 
them but dung, that he might win Christ, 1 Tim. i. 
15, Phil. iii. 6, 7, 8. 

And none of the great multitude of Jews that fol- 
lowed after the law of righteousness ever attained to 
it, while they fought it not by faith in Christ, Rom. 
ix. 31, 32. What performances are greater in out- 
ward appearance, than for a man to give all his goods 
to the poor, and to give his body to be burnt ? 
and yet the Scripture allows us to suppose that 
this may be done without true charity, and there- 
fore without any true holiness of the heart and life, 1 
Cor. xiii. 3. Men in a natural state may have strong 
convictions of the infinite power, wisdom, justice, and 
goodness of God, and of the judgment to come, and 
the everlasting happiness of the godly, and torments 
of the wicked ; and these convictions may stir them 
up, not only to make a high profession, and to utter 
rare sayings concerning God and godliness ; but also 
to labor with great earnestness to avoid all known sin, 
to subdue their lusts, to perform universal obedience 
to God in all known duties, and to serve Him with 
their lives and estates to the utmost, and to extort out 



■ I 
V.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 93 

of their hearts some kind of love to God and godli- 
ness, that, if possible, they may escape the terrible tor- 
ments of hell, and procure everlasting happiness by 
their endeavors : yet all their love to God is but forced 
and feigned ; they have no hearty liking to God or His 
service ; they account Him a hard master, and His com- 
mandments grievous, and they repine and fret inwardly 
at the burden of them; and, were it not for fear of 
everlasting fire, they would little regard the enjoyment 
of God in heaven; and they would be glad if they 
might have the liberty to enjoy their lust without danger 
of damnation. The highest preferment of those that 
are born only after the flesh in Abraham's family, is 
but to be children of the bond- woman, Gal. iv. 23. 
And though they toil more in God's service, than 
many of his dear children, yet God accepts not their 
service, because their best performances are slavish, 
without any child-like affections towards God, and no 
better than glittering sins. And yet these natural men 
are not at all beholden to the goodness of their natures 
.for these counterfeit shows of holiness, or for the least 
abstaining from the grossest sin. If God should leave 
men fully to their own natural corruptions, and to the 
power of Satan, (as they deserve,) all show of religion 
and morality would be quickly banished out of the 
world, and we should grow past feeling in wickedness, 
and like to the cannibals, who are as good by nature 
as ourselves. But God, who can restrain the burning 
of the fiery furnace without quenching it, and the flow- 
ing of water without changing its nature, also restrains 
the working of natural corruption without mortifying 
it ; and, through the greatness of His wisdom and 
power, makes his enemies to yield feigned obedience 
to Him, Ps. lxvi. 3, and to do many things good 
for the matter of them, though they can do nothing 
in a right, holy manner. He has appointed several 
means to restrain our corruptions ; as the law, terrors 
of conscience, terrible judgments and rewards in this 



94 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

life, magistrates, human laws, labor for necessaries, 
as food and raiment. And those gospel means that 
are effectual for sanctification, serve also for restraint 
of sin. God has gracious ends in this restraint of sin, 
that His Church may be preserved, and His Gospel 
preached in the world ; and that these natural men 
may be in a better capacity to receive, the instruc- 
tions of the Gospel ; and that such of them as are cho- 
sen, may, in due time, be converted : and that those of 
them that are not truly converted, may enjoy more of 
the goodness of God here, and suffer the less torments 
hereafter. As vile and wicked as the world is, we 
have cause to praise, and to magnify tr^e free goodness 
of God, that it is no worse. 



DIRECTION VI. 



Those that endeavor to perform sincere obedience to all the 
commands of Christ, as the condition whereby they are to pro- 
cure for themselves a right and title to salvation, and a good 
ground to trust on Him for the same, seek their salvation by the 
works of the law, and not by the faith of Christ, as He is revealed 
in the Gospel ; and they shall never be able to perform sincerely 
any true, holy obedience by all such endeavors. 

EXPLICATION. 

For the understanding the terms of this direction, 
note here, that I take salvation as comprehending just- 
ification, as well as other saving benefits ; and sincere 
obedience as comprehending holy resoluions, as well as 
the fulfilling of them. The most of men, that have any 
sense of religion, are prone to imagine, that -the sure 
way to establish the practice of holiness and righteous- 
ness, is to make it the procuring condition of the favor 
of God, and all happiness. This may appear by the 



VI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 95 

various false religions that have prevailed most in the 
world. In this way the heathens were brought to their 
best devotion and morality, by the knowledge of the 
judgment of God that those that violate several of 
the great duties to God and their neighbor, are worthy 
of death ; and by their consciences accusing or excus- 
ing them, according to the practice of them, Rom. i. 
32, and ii. 14, 15. Our consciences are informed by 
the common light of natural reason, that it is just in 
God to require us to perform these duties, that we 
may avoid His wrath, and enjoy His favor. And we 
cannot find any better way than this to obtain happi- 
ness, or to stir up ourselves to duty, without divine 
revelation. Yet, because our own consciences testify, 
that we often fail in the performance of those duties, 
we are inclined by self-love to persuade ourselves, that 
our sincere endeavors to do the best we can, shall be 
sufficient to procure the favor of God, and pardon for 
all our failings. Thus we see, that our persuasion of 
salvation by the condition of sincere obedience, has its 
original from our corrupt natural reason, and is part 
of the wisdom of this world. It is none of " the wis- 
dom of God in a mystery, that hidden wisdom which 
God ordained before the world to our glory :" it is 
none of those things of the Spirit of God, which 
"have not entered into the heart of man," and which 
the " natural man cannot receive ; for they are foolish- 
ness to him ; neither can he know them, for they are 
spiritually discerned/' 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7, 9, 14. It is none 
of " the foolishness of preaching, whereby it pleased 
God to save them that believe," 1 Cor. i. 21. And 
though we have a better way revealed to us in the 
Gospel, for the enjoyment of the favor of God, and 
holiness itself, and all salvation, without any procuring 
condition of works, by the free gift of God's grace 
through faith in Christ ; yet it is very difficult to per- 
suade men out of a way they are naturally addicted to, 
and that has forestalled and captivated their judg- 



96 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

ments, and is bred in their bone, and therefore cannot 
easily be gotten out of the flesh. Most of those that 
live under the hearing and profession of the Gospel, 
are not brought to hate sin as sin, and to love godli- 
ness for itself, though they be convinced of the neces- 
sity of it to salvation ; and therefore they cannot love 
it heartily. The only means they can take to bring 
themselves to it, is, to stir up themselves to a hypocrit- 
ical practice in their old natural way, that they may 
avoid hell, and get heaven by their works. And their 
own consciences witness, that the zeal and love that 
they have for God and godliness, their self-denial, sor- 
row for sin, strictness of life, are in a manner forced 
and extorted from them by slavish fear and mercenary 
hope ; so that they are afraid, that, if they should trust 
on Christ for salvation by free grace without works, 
the fire of their zeal and devotion would be quickly 
extinguished, and they would grow careless in religion, 
and let loose the reins to their lusts, and bring certain 
damnation upon themselves. 

This moves them to account them the only Boaner- 
gesses and powerful preachers, who preach little or 
none of the doctrine of free grace, but rather spend 
their pains in rebuking sin, and urging people to get 
Christ and His salvation by their works, and thunder- 
ing hell and damnation against sinners. It has been 
further observed, that some that have contended much 
for salvation by free grace, without any condition of 
works, have fallen into Antinomian opinions, and licen- 
tious practices. The experience of these things has 
much prevailed with some learned and zealous men, of 
late, among ourselves, to recede from the doctrine of 
justification by faith, without works, formerly professed 
unanimously, and strongly defended by the Protestants 
against the Papists, as a principal article of true relig- 
ion. They have persuaded themselves that such a 
way of justification is ineffectual, yea, destructive to 
sanctification ; and that the practice of sincere obedi- 



VI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 9? 

ence cannot be established against Antinomian dotages 
and prevailing lusts, except it be made the necessary 
condition of our justification, and so of our eternal sal- 
vation. Therefore they conclude, that God has cer- 
tainly made sincere obedience to be the condition of 
our salvation. And they have endeavored to new- 
model the Protestant doctrine, and to interpret the 
Holy Scriptures in a way agreeable and subservient to 
this their only sure foundation of holiness. 

But I hope to show that this their imagined sure 
foundation of holiness was never laid by the holy God ; 
but that it is rather an error in the foundation, perni- 
cious to the true faith, and to holiness of life. I account 
it an error especially to be abhorred and detested, be- 
cause we are so prone to be seduced by it, and because 
it is an error whereby Satan, transforming himself into 
an angel of light, and a patron of holiness, has greatly 
withstood the Gospel in the Apostles' times, and stirred 
up men to persecute it out of zeal for the law : and has 
since prevailed to set up and maintain Popery, whereby 
the mystery of iniquity works apace in these days, to 
corrupt the purity of the Gospel among Protestants, 
and to heal the deadly wound that was given to Popery 
by preaching the doctrine of justification by faith with- 
out works. 

One thing asserted in the direction against this fun- 
damental error, is, that it is a way of salvation by the 
works of the laiv, and not by the faith of Christ, as re- 
vealed in the Gospel ; though the maintainers of it 
would have us believe, that it is the only way of the 
Gospel ; that so we may not doubt of its power and 
efficacy for our justification, sanctification, and our 
whole salvation. Their reasons are, because the law, 
as a covenant of works, requires us to do all its com- 
mandments perfectly, that we may live; whereas, they 
plead only for a milder condition of sincere doing, that 
we may live. And they plead not for doing duties, as 

9 



98 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

obliged thereunto by the authority of the law given of 
God by Moses, but only in obedience to the commands 
of Christ in the Gospel. Neither do they plead for 
salvation by sincere obedience without Christ, but only 
bv Christ, and through His merit and righteousness. 
And they acknowledge that both salvation itself, and 
sincere obedience, are given to them freely by the grace 
of Christ ; so that all is of grace. They acknowledge 
also, that their salvation is by faith, because sincere 
obedience is wrought in them by believing the Gospel, 
and is included in the nature of that faith, which is the 
entire condition of our salvation ; and some call it the 
resonating act of faith. But all these reasons are but 
a fallacious mask upon a legal way of salvation, to make 
it look like pure Gospel ; as I shall evince by the fol- 
lowing particulars. 

First, All that seek salvation by the sincere per- 
formance of good works, as the procuring condition, 
are condemned by the Apostle Paul, for seeking right- 
eousness by the works of the law, and not by faith, 
Rom. ix. 32, and for seeking to be justified by the law, 
and falling from the grace of Christ, Gal. v. 4. This 
one assertion, if it can be proved, is enough to pluck 
off the fallacious mask from the condition of sincere 
obedience, and to make men abhor it as a damning 
legal doctrine, that bereaves its followers of all salva- 
tion by Christ. And the proof of it is not difficult to 
persons that carefully consider a point of so great mo- 
ment for their salvation. The Jews and Judaizing 
Christians, against whom the Apostle chiefly disputed 
in his whole controversy, did not possess any hope of 
being justified by perfect obedience, according to the 
rigor of the law, but only by such obedience as they 
accounted to be sincere, and not hypocritical. And 
we have no cause to doubt, but that the Judaizing 
Galatians had learned by the Gospel to distinguish sin- 
cere obedience from hypocrisy. The Jewish religion 
bound all that professed it, to acknowledge themselves 






VI.] OF SANCTIFI CATION. 9f 

to be sinners ; as appears by their anniversary humilia- 
tion on the day of atonement, and several other rites of 
the law, and many clear testimonies in the oracles of God, 
that were committed to them, Ps. cxliii. 2, Prov. x. 9, 
Eccl. vii. 20. Yet they knew they were bound to turn 
to the Lord with all their hearts, in sincerity and upright- 
ness, and that God would accept of sincere obedience ; 
for which cause they might better put it for the condi- 
tion of the law, than we can of the Gospel, Ps. li. 6, 10, 
Deut. vi 5, and xxx. 10. So that, if the Apostle had 
disputed against those that held only perfect obedience 
to be the condition of justification, he had contended 
with his own shadow. And they might as readily 
judge sincere obedience to be the condition of justifica- 
tion under the law, as we can judge it to be the condi- 
tion under the Gospel. Neither does the Apostle con- 
demn them merely for accounting sincere obedience to 
the law as given by Moses, to be the condition of their 
justification; but, more generally, for seeking salvation 
by their own works. And he alleges against them, 
that Abraham, who lived before the law of Moses, was 
not justified r y any of his works, though he performed 
sincere obedi mce ; and that David, who lived under 
the law of Moses, was not justified by his works, 
though he performed sincere obedience, and was as 
much bound to obey the law given \>y Moses, as we 
are to obey any commands of Christ in the Gospel, 
Rom. iv. 2, 3, 5, 6. Neither does he condemn them for 
seeking their salvation only by works, without respecting 
at all the grace and salvation that is by Christ ; for 
the Judaizing Galatians were yet professors of the grace 
and salvation of Christ, though they thought obedience 
to the la w a necessary condition for the partaking of it, as 
also many other Judaizing believers did. And, doubt- 
less, they accounted themselves obliged thereunto, not- 
only by the authority of Moses but of Christ also, whom 
they owned as their Lord and Saviour. And we may 
be sure it was no damning error, to account Moses' 



100 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

law obliging at that time ; for many thousands of the 
Jews, that were found believers, held the ceremonies 
of Moses to be in force at that time ; and Paul was 
tender towards them in it, Acts xxi. 20, 26, and xv. 5. 
And other Jews sought justification, not only by their 
sincere works, but also by trusting on the promise 
made to Abraham, and on their priesthood and sacri- 
fices ; which were types of Christ. And the most 
legal Pharisees would thank God for their works, as 
proceeding from His grace, Luke xviii. 11. And they 
could as well acknowledge their salvation to be by faith, 
as the asserters of salvation by sincere obedience can in 
these days : for they accounted, that their sincere obe- 
dience was wrought in them by believing the word of 
God which contained gospel as well as legal doctrine 
in it ; and therefore it must be included in the nature 
of faith, if faith were taken for the condition of their 
whole salvation. Let the asserters of the condition of 
sincere obedience learn from hence that they are build- 
ing again that Judaism which the Apostle Paul de- 
stroyed, whereby the Jews stumbled at Christ, Rom. ix. 
32, and the Galatians were in danger of falling from 
Christ and grace, Gal. v. 2, 4 ; and let them beware 
of falling under that curse which he has denounced, on 
this very occasion, against any man or angel that shall 
preach any other Gospel than that which he has 
preached, Gal. i. 8, 9. 

Secondly, The difference between the law and Gos- 
pel does not at all consist in this, that the one requires 
perfect doing, the other only sincere doing ; but, in 
this, that the one requires doing, the other not doing, 
but believing for life and salvation. Their terms are 
different, not only in degree, but in their whole nature. 

The Apostle Paul opposes the believing required in 
the Gospel, to all doing for life, as the condition pro- 
per to the law, Gal. iii. 12. " The law is not of faith : 
but the man that doth them, shall live in them.' , Rom. 
iv. 5. "To him that worketh not, but belie veth on Him 



VT.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 101 

that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted fot 
righteousness.' ' If we seek salvation by ever so easy 
and mild a condition of works, we thereby bring our- 
selves under the terms of the law, and become debtors 
to fulfil the whole law in perfection, though we intend- 
ed to engage ourselves only to fulfil it in part, Gal. v. 
3 ; for the law is a complete declaration of the only 
terms whereby God will judge all that are not brought 
to despair of procuring salvation by any of their own 
works, and to receive it as a gift freely given to them 
by the grace of God in Christ. So that all that seek 
salvation, right or wrong, knowingly or ignorantly, by 
any works, less or more, whether invented by their own 
superstition, or commanded by God in the Old or New 
Testament, shall at last stand or fall according to those 
terms. 

Third!?/, Sincere obedience cannot be performed to 
all the commands of Christ in the Gospel, except it 
be also performed to the moral law, as given by Moses, 
and as obliging us by that authority. Some asserters 
of the condition of salvation by sincere obedience to 
the commands of Christ, would fain be free from the 
authority of the law of Moses, because that justifies 
none, but thunders out a curse against all those that 
seek salvation by the works of it, Gal. hi. 10, 11. But, 
if they were at all justified by sincere works, their re- 
spect to Moses' authority would not hinder their suc- 
cess ; for many, that were good Christians, accounted 
themselves bound to obey, not only the moral, but the 
ceremonial law ; and, if they had sought justification 
by any works, they would have sought it by those, 
Acts xx. 20, 21. They knew not of any justification 
by sincere works, as commanded only in the Gospel ; 
yet, if they had erred in anything absolutely necessary 
to salvation, the Apostles would not have tolerated 
their weakness. And, whether they will or no, they 
must seek their salvation by the works of the moral 
law, as given by Moses, or else they can never get it by 

9* 



102 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

sincere obedience to the commands of Christ. Christ 
never loved their new condition so well, as to abolish 
the Mosaical authority of the moral law, for the estab- 
lishment of it. He came not to destroy the law and 
the prophets, but to fulfil them, in the practice re- 
quired by them : and has declared, that " those that 
break one of the least of these commandments, and 
teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom 
of heaven : but whosoever shall do and teach them, 
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of hea- 
ven, " Matt. v. 17, 19. He commands us to "do to 
men whatsoever we would they should do to us, 
because this is the law and the prophets ;" which is 
sufficient to prove, that He would have us to account 
the law authoritative to oblige us in this matter. He 
requires his disciples to observe and do whatsoever the 
Scribes and Pharisees bid them, because they sat in 
Moses' seat, Matt, xxiii. 2, 3. 

And, to come to the point in hand, when Christ had 
occasion to answer the questions of those that were guilty 
of the same error that I am now dealing with, in seek- 
ing salvation by their own works, He showed them that 
they must obey the commands as they were already 
established by the Mosaical authority, in the Scripture 
of the Old Testament : " What is written ? how readest 
thou? This do, and thou shalt live," Luke v. 26, 28. 
"If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments; 
which are, Thou shalt do no murder ; Thou shalt not 
commit adultery," &c. 

In like manner, the Apostles of Christ urged the per- 
formance of moral duties upon believers, by the author- 
ity of the law given by Moses. The Apostle Paul ex- 
horts to "love one another, because he that loveth 
another, hath fulfilled the law," Rom. xiii. 8 ; and to 
" honor our father and mother, which is the first com- 
mandment with promise," Eph. vi. 2. The Apostle 
John exhorts to love others, as no new, but an old 
commandment. The Apostle James exhorts " to fulfil 



VI.] OF SANCTIFI CATION. I OS 

the royal law according to the Scripture : Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself;" and to keep all the 
commandments of the law, one as well as another, be- 
cause He that said, "Do nol commit adultery, said 
also, Do not kill," James ii. 8, 10, 11. Sound Protes- 
tants have accounted the denial of the authority of the 
moral law of Moses to be an Asitinomian error. And 
though our late prevaricators against Antinomknism 
maintain not this error, yet they establish a worse 
error, justification by their sincere Gospel works. I 
think the denomination of the Antinomians arose front 
this error. The law of Moses had its authority at first 
from Christ; for Christ was the Lord God of Israel, 
that ordained the law by angels on Mount Sinai, in the 
hand of Moses, a mediator for the Israelites, who were 
then His only Church, and with whom we believing 
Gentiles are now joined, as fellow-members of one and 
the same body, Eph. iii. 6. And though Christ has 
since abrogated some of the commandments then given 
by Moses, concerning figurative ceremonies and judicial 
proceedings, yet he Has not annulled the obligatory 
authority of the moral lav/, but has left it in its full 
force, to oblige in moral duties, that still are to be 
practised ; as, when some acts of any parliament are 
repealed, the authority of the same parliament remains 
inviolable in other acts that are not repealed. I know 
they object, that the ten commands of the moral law, 
the ministration of death, written and engraven on 
stones, are also done away by Christ, 2 Cor. iii. 7. But 
this makes altogether against their conditional cove- 
nant: for they are the ministration of death, and are 
done away, not as they commanded perfect obedience, 
for even. Christ Himself commands us to be perfect, 
Matt. v. 48 ; but as they were conditions for procuring 
life, and avoiding death, established by a promise of 
life to the doers, and a curse to the breakers of them, 
Gal. iii. 10, 12. The covenant made with Israel on 
Mount .Sinai, is abolished by Christ, the Mediator of 



104 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

the new covenant, Heb. viii. 8, 9, 13. And the ten 
commandments bind us not as they were words of that 
covenant, Exod. xxxiv. 28. I mean they bind us not 
as conditions of that covenant, except we seek to be 
justified by works ; for the law, as a covenant, still 
stands in force enough to curse those that seek salva- 
tion by their own works, Gal. iii. 10 ; and, if abolished, 
it is only to those that are in Christ by faith, Gal. ii. 
19, 20, Acts iii. 22-25, and xv. 10, 11. But the ten 
commandments bind us still, as they were then given 
to a people that were at that time under the covenant 
of grace made with Abraham, to show them what 
duties are holy, just, and good, well-pleasing to God, 
and to be a rule for their conversation. The result of 
all is, that we must still practise moral duties as com- 
manded by Moses ; but we must not seek to be justified 
by our practice. If we use them as a rule of life, not 
as conditions of justification, they can be no ministra- 
tion of death, or killing letter unto us. Their perfection 
indeed makes them harder terms to procure life by, but 
a better rule to discover all imperfections, and to guide 
us to that perfection which we should aim at. And it 
will be our wisdom, not to part with the authority of 
the decalogue of Moses, until our new divines can fur- 
nish us with another system of morality as complete as 
that, and as excellently composed and ordered by the 
wisdom of God, and more authentic than that is. 

Fourthly, Those that endeavor to procure Christ's 
salvation by their sincere obedience to all the com- 
mands of Christ, act contrary to that way of salvation 
by Christ, free grace, and faith, discovered in the 
Gospel, though they own it in profession ever so highly. 

1. They act contrary to the wa} 7 of salvation by 
Christ, for they would heal themselves, and save them- 
selves from the power and pollution of sin, and pro- 
cure God's favor, by performing sincere obedience, 
before they are come to Christ the only physician and 
Saviour. They lay their own obedience lowest in the 



VI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 105 

foundation of their salvation, and build the enjoyment 
of Christ upon it ; who ought to be the only founda- 
tion. They would sanctify themselves, before they 
have a sure interest in Christ; and, " going about to 
establish their own righteousness, they do not submit 
themselves to the righteousness of God in Christ," 
Rom. x. 3, 4. Sometimes they will call the righteous- 
ness of Christ their legal righteousness, that they may 
make room for an evangelical righteousness of their 
own works, to be the immediate procuring cause of 
their justification by Christ ; whereas, the Apostle Paul 
knew no evangelical righteousness but that of Christ, 
which he called "the righteousness of faith without 
the law," Rom. iii. 21, 22, and not of the law, Phil. 
iii. 9. Thus they make void Christ's salvation while 
they pretend to own it, and Christ profits them noth- 
ing. Christ is become of none effect to them, while 
they would be justified by the law, Gal. v. 2, 4. If 
we would be saved by Christ, we must own ourselves 
dead, lost sinners, that can have no righteousness for 
justification but His, no life or ability to do good, 
until God bring us into union and fellowship with Him. 
2. They also act contrary to salvation by grace ac- 
cording to the true meaning of the Gospel. For we 
are not saved by grace, as the supreme cause of salva- 
tion by the intervention of works, given and accepted 
by grace as the procuring cause ; in which sense we 
might be saved by grace, though by a covenant of 
works ; as a servant that has money given him by his 
master, to purchase an annuity for his master at a low 
rate, may profess that he had an annuity given him 
freely, and yet that he has purchased it, and may 
claim it as a due debt. But we are saved by grace, as 
the immediate and complete cause of our whole salva- 
tiou, excluding procurement of our salvation by the 
condition of works, and claiming it by any law as a due 
debt. The Scripture teaches us, that there is a per- 
fect opposition and utter irreconcilableness between 



106 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

salvation by grace and works : "If by grace, then it is 
no more of works ; otherwise grace is no more grace : 
but, if it be of works, then it is no more grace; other- 
wise work is no more work," Rom. ri. 6. So also 
there is an opposition between a reward reckoned of 
grace, and of debt, Rom. iv. 4 ; between a promise of 
happiness by the law and by grace, Rom. iv. 13, 16. 
God is so jealous of the g\orj of His free grace, that 
He will not save us by any works, though of His own 
working in us, lest any man should boast, Eph. ii. 9. 
He knows when He heals men by physic, or maintains 
them by the labor of their hands, that they are prone 
to attribute the glory, rather to the means they use, 
than to His sole bounty and goodness. 

3. They do also exactly contrary to the way of sal- 
vation by faith : for, as I have showed already, the faith 
which is required for our salvation in the Gospel, is to 
be understood, in a sense contrary to doing good works, 
as a condition to procure our salvation; and so the 
true difference between the terms of the law and of 
the Gospel may be maintained. Believing is opposed 
to all working for salvation, and the "law of works to 
the law of faith," Rom. iv. 5, and iii. 27, Eph. ii. 8, 9. 
Therefore we must not here consider faith as a work of 
righteousness ; as comprehending any works of right- 
eousness performed or done ; as a condition to procure 
a right and title to Christ ; as the hand whereby we 
work, to earn Him as our bread and drink, as our 
wages ; but only as the hand whereby we receive 
Christ, as freely given to us, or as the mouth whereby 
we eat and drink Him ; as has been proved. God 
gives a sufficient right to receive Christ and His salva- 
tion, by the free Gospel offer and invitation ; so that 
He leaves nothing for our faith to do but to lay hold 
of Him as a free gift, that the glory of our salvation 
may not be ascribed at all to our faith or works, but 
only to this free grace of God in Christ ; " It is of faith 
that it may be by grace," Rom. iv. 16. 



VI. ] OF SANCTIFICATIOX. 107 

Fifthly, Christ, or His Apostles, never taught a Gos- 
pel that requires such a condition of works for salva- 
tion as they plead. The texts of Scripture which they 
usually allege for their purpose, are either contrary to 
it, or widely distant from it, as they might learn from 
many Protestant interpreters, if their affection to a Po- 
pish tenet had not blinded them. I shall instance 
briefly only a few of those texts, whereby you may 
have some light to judge of the true meaning of the 
rest. That obedience of faith, mentioned by the Apostle 
Paul, as the great design of Gospel preaching, Rom. i. 
5, is as contrary to their condition of sincere obedience 
for salvation, as the law of faith is to the law of works, 
Rom. iii. 23. It is an obedience that consists in be- 
lieving the report of the Gospel ; as the Apostle ex- 
plains himself, Rom. x. 16. They have not all obeyed 
the Gospel ; for Esaias saith, " Lord, who hath believ- 
ed our report ?" Faith is to be imputed for righteous- 
ness, not because it is a work of righteousness itself, 
but because we do by it renounce all confidence in any 
righteous works whatsoever, and trust on Him who jus- 
tifies the ungodly ; as is clear by that very text which 
they usually pervert for their purpose, Rom. iv. 5. 
They grossly pervert those words of Paul, Rom. ii. 6, 
7, " Who will render to every man according to his 
deeds ; to them, who, by patient continuance in well- 
doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, eter- 
nal life ;" where they will have Paul to be declaring the 
terms of the Gospel, when he is evidently declaring the 
terms of the law, to prove, that both Jews and Gen- 
tiles are all under sin, and that no flesh can be justified 
by the works of the law, as appears by the tenor of his 
following discourse, Rom. iii. 9, 10. They join evi- 
dently with the Papists against the concurrent judg- 
ment of the best Protestant divines in the interpretation 
of that text, James ii. 24, " Ye see then how that by 
works a man is justified, and not by faith only," where 
they will have James to deliver the doctrine of justifi- 



108 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

cation in more proper expressions than the Apostk 
Paul, who teaches justification by faith without works ; 
though Paul treated on this doctrine as his principal 
subject, and James only speaks of it occasionally, as a 
motive to the practice of good works ; whereby we may 
easily judge which of their expressions are to be taken 
for the most proper. Protestants have showed suffi- 
ciently, that James speaks not of a true saving faith. 
but of such a dead faith as devils have; not of justifi- 
cation in a proper sense, but of the declaration and 
manifestation of it by its fruits. Besides, he speaks of 
justification by works, as commanded in the law given 
by Moses; as appears by his citing the commandments 
of the law, ver. 8, 11, which our contrivers of the new 
divinity would have nothing to do with in their model 
of the doctrine of justification. Another text alleged 
by them, is, Rev. xxii. 14, "Blessed are they that do 
His commandments, that they may have a right to the 
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the 
city." But the Greek word which is here translated 
right, is translated power or privilege, John i. 12. It 
signifies here a rightful possession of the fruit of the 
tree of life, and not a mere title to it. So this text 
proves no more than what the Protestants generally 
acknowledge, that good works are the way wherein we 
are to walk to the enjoyment and possession of the 
glory of Christ; though a title to Christ, and his glo- 
rious salvation, be freely given us without any procuring 
condition of works. They account also, that when the 
happiness of heaven is called a reward, it must needs 
imply a procuring condition of works, as Rev. xxii. 12, 
Matt. v. 12. But though it be called a reward, be- 
cause it is given after the doing of good works, and be- 
cause it recompenses good works, better than anv 
wages on earth can recompense the laborer ; yet it is a 
reward of grace, not of debt, Rom. iv. 4 ; it is no proper 
wages, but a free gift, Rom. vi. 24 : " For the wages 



VI.] OF SANC1IFICATION. 109 

of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

Another thing asserted in the direction, is, that those 
who endeavor to perform this sincere obedience, as the 
condition to procure a right and title to Christ and His 
salvation, shall never be able to perform sincerely any 
true obedience by all such endeavors. Though they 
labor earnestly, and pray fervently, fast frequently, and 
oblige themselves to holiness by many vows, and press 
themselves to the practice of it by the most forcible 
motives, taken from the infinite power, justice, and 
knowledge of God, the equity and goodness of His 
commands, the salvation of Christ, everlasting happi- 
ness and misery, or any other motive improved by the 
most affectionate meditation ; yet they shall never attain 
to the end which they aim at in such an erroneous way. 
They may restrain their corruptions, and bring them- 
selves to many hypocritical, slavish performances, 
whereby they may be esteemed among men as eminent 
saints ; but they shall not be able to mortify one cor- 
ruption, or to perform one duty in such a holy manner 
as God approves. Yet here I censure only an error, 
not the life of the persons that maintain it. I have 
heard that some preach legally, and pray evangelically. 
I doubt not but the frame of their hearts and lives is 
rather according to their prayers than their sermons. 
Though Peter complied with Judaism in an outward 
act of profession, yet he lived himself like a Christian, 
Gal. ii. 11, 14. I affirm only, that no godly person 
did or could attain to his godliness in this erroneous 
way. And what a lamentable disappointment this to 
those that have attempted to alter the Protestant doc- 
trine, and to pervert and confound law and Gospel, 
and have bred much contention in the Church, that 
they might secure the practice of sincere obedience 
against Antinomian errors, by making it the procuring 
condition of their salvation ; when, after all this ado, 

10 



110 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

the remedy is found to be as bad as the disease, equal- 
ly unserviceable and destructive to that great end for 
which they designed it; and that it has an Antinomian 
effect and operation, contrary to the power of godli- 
ness ! 

Much more might be said for the confutation of this 
novel doctrine ; but, if this one thing be well proved, it 
may be sufficient to make the zealous contrivers of it 
ashamed of their craft, and angry with themselves, and 
sorry, that they have taken so much pains, and stretch- 
ed their wits, to maintain such an unprofitable, un- 
sanctifying opinion. It will be sufficient for the proof 
of it, if I show, that the practice of true holiness can- 
not possibly be attained by seeking to be saved by the 
works of the law ; because I have already proved, that 
this doctrine of salvation by sincere obedience, is ac- 
cording to the terms of the law, and not of the Gos- 
pel. And hereby those also may see their error, that 
ascribe justification only to the Gospel, and sancti 6 ca- 
tion to the law. Yet, because those asserters of the 
condition of sincere obedience will hardly be persuaded 
by what has been said, that it is the way of the law of 
works ; I shall, for their more full conviction, sufficient- 
ly manifest, that it is of no other nature and operation 
than any other doctrine that is proper to the law, and 
has no better fruit; as I proceed to prove, by the fol- 
lowing arguments, that holiness cannot be attained by 
seeking it by the law of works, that so it may appear 
not worthy to be called Gospel doctrine. 

First, The way of salvation by the works of the law- 
is contrary and destructive to those necessary means 
of a holy practice that have been laid down in the 
foregoing directions, and manifestly proved out of the 
Holy Scriptures. I have made it appear, that a hearty 
propensity to a holy practice cannot bj attained with- 
out some good persuasion of our reconciliation with 
God by justification, and of our everlasting happiness, 
and of sufficient strength both to will and to perform 



VI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. Ill 

our duty ; and that these and all other endowments 
necessary to the same end, are to be had only in Christ, 
by union and fellowship with Him ; and that Christ 
Himself, with all His fulness, is united to us by faith, 
which is not a condition to procure a right or title to 
Christ, but an instrument whereby we receive Him ac- 
tually in our hearts, by trusting on Him for all salvation 
freely promised to us in the Gospel. All these means 
of a holy practice, are things wherein our spiritual 
life and happiness consist; so that, if we have them, 
everlasting life is begun in us already ; and because 
they are the necessary means of a holy practice, there- 
fore the beginning of everlasting life in us must not be 
placed after such a practice, as the fruit and conse- 
quence of it ; but must go before it, as the cause be- 
fore the effect. Now, the terms of the law are directly 
contrary to this method. They place the practice of 
holiness before life, and make it to be the means and 
procuring cause of life ; as Paul describes them, Rom. 
x. 5, u The man that doeth these things, shall live 
by them. ,, By these terms, you are first to do the 
holy duties commanded, before you have any interest 
in the life promised, or any right. to lay hold of it as 
yours by faith. And you must practise holiness with- 
out the before -mentioned means, or else you can never 
attain to them. Thus the true means are turned out 
of their office; and instead of being causes, they are 
made to be effects and fruits of a holy practice. And 
it will be in vain ever to expect such, effects, and 
fruits ; for holiness itself with all its effects, must needs 
be destroyed, when its necessary causes are taken away. 
Therefore the Apostle Paul testifies, that the way of 
salvation by the works of the law makes faith void, 
and the promises of none effect ; and frustrates the 
grace of God, as if Christ died in vain ; and makes 
Christ to be of no profit, and of none effect to us, as 
those that are fallen from grace, Rom. iv. 14, Gal. il 
21, and v. 2, 4. Let us now examine the modern doc- 



112 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

trine of salvation by the condition of sincere obedier'se 
to all the commands of Christ, and we shall quickly 
find it to be a chip of the same block with the former 
legal way of salvation, in the same manner destructive 
to the means of holiness, and to holiness itself. It re- 
quires of us the performance of sincere obedience, be- 
fore we have the means necessary to produce it, by 
making it antecedent to our justification and persuasion 
of eternal happiness, and our actual enjoyment of union 
and fellowship with Christ, and of that new nature 
which is to be had only in Him by faith. It destroys 
the nature of that saving faith whereby we actually 
receive and enjoy Christ and all His benefits, and 
knocks off our hands from laying hold of Christ and 
His salvation, by telling us still, as Christ told the 
legal worker after all his labor, that yet we lack some- 
thing, Mark x. 21 ; that it is presumption to take Him 
as our own, until we have performed the condition for 
our right and title to Him ; which is another kind of 
saving faith, otherwise called sincere obedience. By 
this devised conditional faith, Satan keeps many poor 
souls at bay, poring upon their own hearts for many 
years together, to find whether they have performed 
the condition, and whether they have as yet any right 
to Christ for their salvation, not daring to venture to 
take Him as their own. It is a strong partition wall, 
that will certainly hinder the soul from coming to 
Christ, until it be thrown down by the knowledge of 
salvation by grace, without any procuring condition of 
works. And though it be accounted but as the pay- 
ment of a peppercorn for a great estate, yet it is 
enough to break the ablest man in the world, because 
it debars him from laying hold of the only effectual 
means of holiness, w T hereby that peppercorn may be 
obtained. 

Secondly, Those that seek salvation by the works of 
the law, therein act according to their natural state. 
They live and walk according to the flesh, ^r ^H man ; 



VI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 113 

not according to the new state, by Christ living in 
them. I doubt not but several of them that live un- 
der the light of the Gospel, are partakers of a new- 
state in Christ ; and walk holily in it ; but the best in 
this world have in them flesh as well as spirit, and may 
act according to either state in some measure ; and in 
this matter they do act only according to their carnal 
natural state. When the believing Galatians were 
seduced to a legal way of salvation, the Apostle Paul 
charges it upon them as their folly, that, having begun 
in the Spirit, they would now be " made perfect in the 
flesh," Gal. iii. 3. And he resembles those that desire 
to be under the law, to Abraham's son born of Hagar 
the bond-woman, to show, that such walk as those 
that " are born after the flesh, not after the Spirit," 
Gal. iv. 19, 23, 29. The law was first given to Adam 
in his pure natural state, to prescribe terms for his 
continuance in the happiness which he then enjoyed. 
And, ever since that time, the flesh, or natural man, is 
married to the law, and the "law hath dominion over a 
man as long as he liveth," that is, until he be dead to 
liis fleshly state by the body of Christ, and married to 
Him that is raised from the dead, Rom. vii. 1, 4. We 
are not at all under the law as a covenant of works, 
according to our new state in Christ ; as the Apostle 
testifies, Rom. vi. 14: "Ye are not under the law, but 
under grace;" and Gal. v. 18, " If ye be led by the 
Spirit, ye are not under the law." From hence we 
may firmly conclude, that none can possibly attain to 
true godliness by acting according to legal terms; be- 
cause I have fully proved already, that it is impossible 
to be godly, while we are in the flesh, or in a natural 
state, and that, as far as we act according to it, we 
can do nothing but sin. The law is weak .through the 
flesh, that it cannot bring us to fulfil its own righteous- 
ness, Rom. viii. 3, 4. It is married to a cross piece of 
flesh, that is enmity to it, and can never be subject to 
it, Rom. viii. 8. It sues the natural man for an old 

10* 



114 THE G0SPEL-MY31ERY [DIRECT. 

debt of obedience, that he is utterly unable to pay 
since the fall ; and the success accordingly ; it gets 
nothing. Neither do those take a better course, that 
would bring themselves to holiness, by making sincere 
obedience to Christ's commands the condition of their 
salvation. Their way is the same for substance with 
that of the Galatians before mentioned, who would be 
made perfect in the flesh, not by perfect obedience, 
but sincere ; as has been showed before. Their endea- 
vors to procure an interest in Christ by their sincere 
obedience, testify against themselves, that they do not 
act as people that are in Christ, but rather as people 
that judge themselves to be without an interest in 
Christ, and to be yet to seek for it. And sincere 
obedience is as impossible to be attained as perfect 
obedience, if we act according to our dead natural 
state. 

Thirdly, As the law bereaves us of alt strengthen- 
ing means, that are to be had by faith in Christ, and 
finds us without strength in our natural state ; so of 
itself, it affords us no strength to fulfil its own com- 
mands : " If there had been a law given that could 
have given life, verily righteousness should have been 
by the law, 9 ' Gal. iii. 21. It does not so much as pro- 
mise life, until we have performed the obedience re- 
quired by it. " The man that doeth these things, shall 
live by them," Rom. x. 5. It is well called a voice of 

words, Heb. xii. 19; because its high and h\v words 

. P ^ 

are not accompanied with an enlivening power. And 

the doctrine of life and salvation by sincere obedience 
is no better natured, or more bountiful to us ; for it ex- 
acts of us the performance of the condition before it 
allows us any life or salvation by Christ. Can any man 
rationally expect strength to obey sincerely, by follow- 
ing a doctrine that does not so much as promise it? 
The true Gospel is of a more benign nature ; for it pro- 
mises, that " God will pour out of His Spirit upon all 
flesh," Acts ii. 17 ; and will put His laws into our mind, 



VI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 115 

and write them into our hearts. Heb. viii. 10 ; and will 
cause us to " walk in His statutes that we shall keep His 
judgments, and do them," Ezek. xxxvi. 27. The word 
of God's grace, that requires not holiness of us as a 
condition, but promises it to us as a free gift, must 
needs be the only doctrine " that is able to build us up, 
and to give us an inheritance among them that are 
sanctified," Acts xx. 32. Seeing it pleases God to 
bring us to holiness by believing a doctrine we may 
reasonably expect that God should work upon us 
suitably to the nature of the doctrine which we be- 
lieve ; that he should give by a giving doctrine, and ex- 
act by an exacting doctrine. 

Fourthly, The way of procuring life and happiness 
by the condition of perfect or sincere works, is not a 
rational method for the recovery of fallen man ; though 
it were good for the preserving of life before the fall 
for it prescribes the immediate practice of holiness to 
recover a man dead in sin ; as if one should say to the 
sick of the palsy, " Arise and walk, and then thou shalt 
be whole, and able to walk/' We sometimes say jest- 
ingly to a child that is fallen on the ground, "Come 
hither and I will help thee up ;" but if we should say 
so to one that *s cast on his bed by a dead palsy, we 
should be guilt/ of mocking and cruelly insulting the 
afflicted. Those that are humbled and made sensible 
of their original sin, and natural deadness, know that 
they must first live by the Spirit before they can act 
holily, Gal. v. 25. They will inquire : " How shall we 
have strength to perform the duty required ?" If you 
answer, that they must trust in God and Christ, to help 
them ; they may readily reply, they have no sure 
ground to trust on God or Christ for any saving grace,, 
according to this doctrine, before they have performed 
this condition, at least in a sincere resolution of obedi- 
ence, and that they are as unable to bring their hearts to 
such a resolution, as a dead man is to raise himself out 
of the grave. Take another instance. The method of 



116 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

the doctrine of works is, You must love God first, and 
then on that condition He will love you again ; whereas, 
on the contrary, " we love God, because He loved us 
first," 1 John iv. 19. And if God suspend His love to 
us upon any condition, our love to Him Avill not be ab- 
solute, but suspended upon the same condition, and no 
way contrary to an actual hating of Him. 

Fifthly, The law is so far from healing our sinful 
corruption, that it proves rather an occasion of sinful 
motions and actings in those that seek salvation by the 
works of it. This comes to pass by reason of the 
power of our natural corruption ; which is stirred un 
and rages the more, when the holy and just law of God 
is set in opposition against it; so that the fault is not 
in the law, but in our own hearts. Those that find 
not this by their own experience, should believe the 
Apostle Paul, who teaches it plainly, and that from his 
own experience, Rom. vii. 5, 14. He affirms, that 
there are motions of sin by the law, in a fleshly state ; 
and that sin, taking occasion by the commandment, 
" Thou shalt not covet," wrought in him all manner of 
concupiscence, deceived him, slew him, became exceed- 
ing sinful ; and that without the law, he was alive, 
and sin dead ; but, when the commandment came, sin 
revived, and he died. He shows the cause of this irre- 
concilable enmity and contrariety between his sinful na- 
ture, and the law: "The law is spiritual; but I am 
carnal, sold under sin." Take notice here, from the 
reason given by the Apostle, that the doctrine of sal- 
vation by sincere obedience will have the same event. 
Corrupt nature is contrary to sincere, as well as per- 
fect obedience ; and, if we make it the condition of our 
salvation, sin will take the same occasion by it, to be- 
come exceeding sinful in its motions and actings. The 
success of legal doctrine upon the natural man is ac- 
cording to the proverb, " Reprove not a scorner, lest 
he hate thee," Prov. ix. 8. Rebuking a madman, is 
the way to enrage him ; and such is the natural man 



71.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 117 

in spiritual things, since he fell out of his right mind 
by the sin of Adam. We find by manifold experience, 
that though men be generally addicted to the principle 
of salvation by works, yet multitudes of them hate all 
strict preachers and professors of true holiness, because 
they are a torment to their consciences. They en- 
deavor to shelter themselves in ignorance of the law ; 
accounting, that the less they know the less they shall 
answer for ; and, therefore, they would not have right 
things prophesied unto them, Isa. xxx. 10. And they 
have prevailed generally in the world, to darken the 
natural knowledge of moral duties, in such a degree 
that there is a necessity of learning them by divine 
revelation out of the Scriptures. We may find how 
prone legal writers are to corrupt the sense of the law, 
that they may leave starting holes for their corruptions, 
by the corrupt glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees, 
from which Christ vindicated it, Matt. v. And, as 
far as I have observed, none more endeavor to discover 
the purity and perfection of the law, than those who 
seek holiness and salvation, without any legal condi- 
tion, by the mere free grace of God in Christ. The 
doctrine of salvation by sincere obedience, is but min- 
cing the perfection required in the law ; and yet how 
is this doctrine minced again and again, until it is be- 
come so small that the substance of all true obedience 
is lost ! A willingness to be saved according to Christ's 
terms, or a consent that Christ should be our Lord, or 
a resolution to obey His commandments, (which is little 
more than ignorant men trust on, when they say, they 
hope God will save them, because they have a good 
meaning, though they live in the neglect of all religion,) 
without any further practice of holiness, shall pass with 
many for enough of sincere obedience, both to enter 
them into a state of salvation, and to continue them in 
it ; so that they shall never be accounted breakers of 
the Gospel covenant, while so much can be pretended. 
The most that is made necessary for salvation, shall 



118 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

be only, to endeavor to do what we can to obey 
Christ's commands ; though all that the most can do, 
is nothing that is truly good. Those who have a 
little more zeal for their salvation by works, are prone 
to spend it in superstitious observances, because they 
suit better with their carnal nature, than the spiritual 
commands of God and Christ. I doubt not but this 
has been one occasion of the prevalence of heathenish, 
Jewish, and Popish superstitions in the world. We 
find, by experience, how Popery fell in several nations 
in late years, when the great pillar of it, the doctrine 
of justification by works, was overthrown by the Prot- 
estant doctrine of justification by faith alone. If these 
legal zealots be forced, by strong^ conviction, to en- 
deavor the practice of spiritual duties, for the quieting 
of their guilty consciences, they may be brought to 
strive and labor earnestly, and even to macerate their 
bodies with fasting, that they may kill their lusts ; but 
still their lusts are alive, and as strong as ever they 
were ; and show forth their enmity against the law of 
God, by inward fretting, repining, and grudging at it, as 
a grievous task-master, though a slavish fear restrain their 
gross outward actings. And, if once these zealots be 
enlightened with the knowledge of the spiritual nature 
of the law, to discern that God rejects all their slavish 
service, and will not own it for sincere obedience ; then 
they fall into despair of their salvation, because they 
see they have failed in their highest attempts to per- 
form the condition ; and then they can easily discover 
themselves, that their hearts swell in anger and mani- 
fest hatred against the law, yea, and against God and 
Christ, for prescribing such hard conditions of salvation, 
which they cannot keep, and yet must expect to be 
damned eternally for breaking them. This fills them 
with blasphemous thoughts against God and Christ, 
and they can hardly refrain from blaspheming with 
their tongues. And when they are brought to this 
horrible condition, if God does not in mercy discover 



VI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 119 

to them the way of salvation, by free grace, through 
faith alone, they will endeavor, if they can, to sear their 
consciences past feeling of sin, and fully to abandon all 
religion, which has proved such an insufferable torment 
to them ; or, if they cannot sear their consciences, some 
of them are easily prevailed with by Satan, rather to 
murder themselves, than to live longer in the hatred 
of God, the spirit of blasphemy, and continual horror 
of conscience. This is the pestilent effect of legal doc- 
trine upon a carnal heart, that but rouses up and ter- 
ribly enrages the sleeping lion, our sinful corruption, 
instead of killing it ; as is too evident by the sad ex- 
perience of many that have endeavored with all their 
might to practise it, and by the Scripture, that shows 
a sufficient cause why it cannot be otherwise. There- 
fore, the doctrine of salvation by sincere obedience, 
that was invented against Antinomianism, may well be 
ranked among the worst Antinomian errors. For my 
part, I hate it with perfect hatred, and account it mine 
enemy, as I have found it to be. And I have found, 
by some good experience, the trut^h of the lesson taught 
by the Apostle, that the way to be freed from the mas- 
tery and dominion of sin, is, " not to be under the law, 
but under grace." Rom. vi. 14. 

Sixthly, The way of salvation by works was blasted 
by the curse denounced against the first Adam's sin ; 
so that now it cannot work life in us, or holiness, but 
only death ; for the law which requires both sincere 
and perfect obedience to God in all things, was made 
known to Adam at his first, creation, as the means of 
continuing the happy life that was then bestowed upon 
him ; and it would have been effectual for this end, if 
he had not transgressed in the forbidden fruit. But, 
when he had once brought himself and his posterity 
under the terrible sentence, " Thou shalt surely die," 
Gen. ii. 17, all that knowledge of God, or His law, that 
before wrought for continuance of life, was turned by 
that cursing sentence the contrary way, to work for hia 



120 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

death, even for the death of his soul in sin, as well as 
for the death of his body; and therefore it quick!/ 
moved him to hide himself from God as an enemy. It 
was as if God should say, "All the light and knowl- 
edge, that thou hast, shall not be able to continue thy 
life or restore it ; but it shall rather tend to thy death." 
Therefore, while we continue in our natural state, under 
the first Adam's guilt and curse, the knowledge of the 
law, yea, and all such knowledge of God and His at- 
tributes as natural men may attain to, must needs be 
in like manner accursed to us. And seeing man did 
not use his natural knowledge and wisdom aright, God 
is resolved to revenge the abuse of it, by giving us 
salvation in a way contrar} 7 to it, that seems foolishness 
to the natural man ; and wholly to abolish the way of 
living by any of our works, or by any wisdom or 
knowledge that the natural man can attain unto. 
" For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the 
wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of 
the prudent. Hath not God made foolish the wisdom 
of this world ? for, after that, in the wisdom of God, 
thewoild by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God, by 
the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe/' 
1 Cor. i. 19, 20, 21. Hence we may conclude, that no 
truth known by the light of nature, can be an effectual 
principle or motive to work holiness in us ; and Gospel 
principles and motives are but abused, when they are 
applied to a legal way of salvation. 

Seventhly, The end which God aimed at in giving 
the law to Moses, was not, that any should ever attain 
to holiness or salvation by the condition of perfect or 
sincere obedience to it ; though, if there had been any 
such way of salvation at that time, it must have con- 
sisted in the performance of that law, which was then 
given to the Church to be a rule of life, as well as a 
covenant. There was another covenant made before 
that time with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a covenant 
of grace, promising all blessings freely through Christ. 



VI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 121 

the promised seed, by which only they were to be saved. 
And the covenant of the law was added, that they 
might see their sinfulness and subjection to death and 
wrath, and the impossibility of attaining to life or holi- 
ness by their works, and be forced to trust on the free 
promise only for all their salvation, and that sin might 
be restrained by the spirit of bondage, until the com- 
ing of that promised seed Jesus Christ, and the more 
plentiful pouring out of the sanctifying Spirit, by Him. 
This the Apostle Paul shows largely, Gal. iii. 15-24, 
Rom. v. 20, 21, and x. 3, 4. None of the Israelites 
under the Old Testament were ever saved by the Sinai 
covenant ; neither did any of them ever attain to holi- 
ness by the terms of it. Some of them did indeed 
perform the commandments of it sincerely, though 
imperfectly ; but those were first justified, and made 
partakers of life and holiness by virtue of that better 
covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which 
was the same in substance with the new covenant or 
testament established by the blood of Christ. Had it 
not been for that better covenant, the Sinai covenant 
would have proved to them an occasion of no happiness, 
but only of sin, despair, and destruction. Of itself it 
was only a killing letter, the ministration of death and 
condemnation ; and therefore it is now abolished, 2 Cor. 
iii. 6, 8, 9, 11. We have cause to praise God, for 
delivering his Church by the blood of Christ from this 
yoke of bondage ; and we have cause to abhor the de- 
vice of those who would lay upon us a more grievous 
and terrible yoke, by turning our very new covenant 
into a covenant of sincere works, and leaving us no such 
better covenant, as the Israelites had under their yoke, 
to relieve us ha our extremity. 
11 



122 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 



DIRECTION VII. 

We are not to imagine that our hearts and lives must be 
changed from sin to holiness in any measure, before we may 
safely venture to trust on Christ for the sure enjoyment of Him- 
self, and His salvation. 

EXPLICATION. 

We are naturally so prone to ground our salvation 
upon our own works, that, if we cannot make them 
procuring conditions and causes of our salvation by 
Christ, yet we endeavor at least to make them neces- 
sary preparatives to fit us for receiving Christ and H'S 
salvation by faith. And men are easily persuaded, that 
this is not at all contrary to salvation by free grace, be- 
cause all that is hereby ascribed to our works, or good 
qualifications, is only, " that they put us in a fit pos- 
ture to receive a free gift. If we were to go to a 
prince for a free gift, good manners and due reverence 
would teach us to trim ourselves first, and to chano-e 
our slovenly clothes, as Joseph did when he came out 
of the dungeon into the presence of Pharaoh. It seems 
to be an impudent slighting and contemning the justice 
and holiness of God and Christ, and an insufferable 
affront and indignity offered to the divine Majesty, 
when any dare presume to approach His presence in 
the filthy garb of their sins, covered all over with 
putrefying sores, not at all closed, bound up or cleans- 
ed ; much more, when they endeavor to receive the 
most holy One into such an abominable stinking ken- 
nel, as a sinner's heart is before it be at all reform- 
ed. The parable concerning the man that was to be 
bound hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness, for 
coming to the royal wedding without a wedding gar- 
ment, seems to be intended as a warning against all 
euch presumption, " MVfc. xxii. 11, 13. Many that be- 



Til.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 123 

hold with terror the abominable filth of their own 
hearts, are kept off from coming immediately to Christ, 
by such imaginations, which Satan strong^ maintains 
and increases in them by his suggestions ; so that they 
can by no means be persuaded out of them, until God 
teaches them inwardly by the powerful illumination of 
His Spirit. They delay the saving act of faith, be- 
cause they think they are not yet duly prepared and 
qualified for it. On the same account, many weak be- 
lievers delay coming to the Lord's Supper for many 
years together, even as long as they live in this world ; 
and Would be as likely to delay their baptism, if they 
had not been baptized in infancy. Against all such im- 
aginations, I shall propose the following considerations. 
First , This error is pernicious to the practice of ho- 
liness, and to our whole salvation, in the same manner 
with that treated of in the foregoing direction, and may 
be confuted by the same arguments which are there 
produced. Whether holiness be made a procuring 
condition of our salvation through Christ, or only 
a condition necessary to qualify us for the reception 
of Christ, we are equally brought under those legal 
terms of doing first the duties required in the law, that 
so we may live. Therefore, we are equally bereaved 
of the assistance of those means of holiness mentioned 
in the foregoing directions, as union and fellowship with 
Christ, and the enjoyment of all His sanctifying endow- 
ments by faith, which should go before the practice of 
holiness, that they may enable us for it ; and we are 
equally left to labor in vain for holiness, while we are 
in our cursed natural state, whereby our sinful corrup- 
tion will be rather exasperated than mortified ; so that 
we shall never be duly prepared for the reception of 
Christ as long as we live in the world. Thus, while 
we endeavor to prepare our way to Christ by holy 
qualifications, we rather fill it with stumbling-blocks 
and deep pits, whereby our souls are hindered from 
ever attaining to the salvation of Christ. 



124 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

Secondly, Any the least change of our hearts and 
lives from sin to holiness, before our receiving of Christ 
and his salvation by faith, is not at all necessary, ac- 
cording to the terms of the Gospel, nor required in the 
word of God. Christ would have the vilest sinners 
come to him for salvation immediately, without delay- 
ing to prepare themselves for him. When the wicked 
jailer inquired, " What must I do to be saved ?" Paul di- 
rected him forthwith to believe on Christ, with a prom- 
ise that in so doing he should be saved : and straight- 
way, he and all his were baptized, Acts xvi. 30, 33. 
Paul does not tell him that he must reform his heart 
and life first, though he was in a very sinful condition 
at that time, having but a little before fastened Paul 
and Silas in the stocks, and just attempted a horrid 
wilful self-murder. Those three thousand Jews that 
were converted by Peter's preaching, and added the 
same day to the Church by baptism, Acts ii. 41, seemed 
to have as much need of some considerable time to pre- 
pare themselves for receiving Christ as others, because 
they had but lately polluted themselves with the mur- 
der of Christ himself, ver. 23. Christ commands his 
servants to go out quickly into the streets and lanes of 
the city, and to bring in to his feast, the poor and the 
maimed, and the halt, and the blind ; yea, to go out 
into the highways, and to compel them to come in, 
without allowing them to tarry until they had cleansed 
their sores, and shifted off their filthy rags and swarms 
of vermin. Christ would have us believe on him that 
justifies the ungodly ; and therefore, he does not re- 
quire us to be godly before we believe, Rom. iv. 5. He 
came as a physician for the sick, and does not expect 
that they should recover their health in the least de- 
gree before they come to him, Matt. ix. 12. The 
vilest sinners are fitly prepared and qualified for this de- 
sign, which is to show forth the exceeding riches of grace 
pardoning our sins, and saving us freely, Eph. ii. 5, 7. 
For this end the law of Moses entered, that the " offence 



VII.] OF SANCTIFI CATION. 125 

might abound, that so where sin abounded, grace 
might much more abound," Rom. v. 20. He loved us 
in our most loathsome, sinful pollution, so as to die for 
us ; and much more will He love us in it, so as to re- 
ceive us when we come to Him for the purchased salva- 
tion. He has given full satisfaction to the justice of 
God for sinners, that they might have all righteousness 
and holiness, and all salvation, only by fellowship with 
Him through faith. Therefore it is no affront to Christ 
or slighting and contemning the justice and holiness of 
God, to come to Christ, while we are polluted sinners ; 
but rather it is an affronting and contemning the saving 
grace, merit and fulness of Christ, if we endeavor to 
make ourselves righteous and holy before we receive 
Christ himself, and all righteousness and holiness in 
Him, by faith. Christ loathed not to touch a leper, 
and condescended to wash the feet of his disciples, and 
did not expect that they should be washed and perfumed 
beforehand, as some great ones of the world are said 
to do, when they wash the feet of poor men, in imita- 
tion of Christ. 

Thirdly, Those that receive Christ with an unfeigned 
faith shall never want a wedding-garment to adorn 
them in the sight of God. Faith itself is very precious, 
in the sight of God, and most holy, 2 Pet. i. 1 ; Jude, 
verse 20. God loves it because it gives the glory of 
our salvation only to the free grace of God in Christ, 
Rom. iv. 16, and renounces all dependence upon any 
conditions that we can perform to procure a right to 
Christ or to make ourselves acceptable to him. It con- 
tains in it a hearty love to Christ as a Saviour, and a 
hungering and thirsting appetite for His salvation ; and it 
is the mouth whereby the soul feeds hungrily upon Him. 
What wedding-garment can sinners bring with them 
more delightful than this to their bountiful God, whose 
great design is to manifest th^ abundant riches of His 
glorious grace and bounty in this wedding-feast ? The 
Father himself loves them because they love Christ, and 
11* 



126 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

believe that he came out from God, John xvi. 27. But 
yet we see that the excellency of faith lies in this, that 
it accounts not itself, nor any other work of ours, a 
sufficient ornament to make us acceptable in the sight 
of God. It will not be our wedding-garment itself, 
but it buys of Christ "white raiment, that we may be 
clothed, and that the shame of our nakedness may not 
appear,' 7 Rev. iii. 18. Though it loves and desires the 
free gift of holiness, yet it abandons all thoughts of 
practising holiness immediately, before we come to 
Christ for a holy nature. It puts on Christ himself, 
and in Him all things that pertain to life and godliness. 
Thus every true believer is "clothed with the sun," 
Rev. xii. 1, even with the "Sun of righteousness, ,, 
the Lord Jesus ; who is pleased to be himself both our 
wedding garment and feast, and all our spiritual and 
eternal happiness. 

For the more full satisfaction and consolation of 
those distressed souls that lie under terrible apprehen- 
sions of their own sinfulness and the wrath of God, 
and dare not venture to trust steadfastly on Christ for 
their salvation, until they can find in themselves some 
change from sin to holiness, I shall mention particu- 
larly several of those things that such would find in 
themselves ; and I shall show, that if some of them 
be not partly comprehended in faith itself, they are 
fruits and consequences of faith ; and therefore they 
cannot be rationally expected before we trust on Christ 
for our salvation. 

1. They think it necessary to repent before they be- 
lieve on Christ for their salvation, because repentance 
is absolutely necessary to salvation, Luke xiii. 3. 
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish;" and 
Christ places the duty of repentance before faith, 
Mark i. 15; "Repent, and believe the gospel." But 
sve are to know, that Christ requires repentance first as 
uhe end to be aimed at, and faith in the next place, as 
the only means of attaining to it ; and though the end 



VII.J OF SANCTIFIOATION. 127 

be first in intention, yet the means are first in practice 
and execution, though both be absolutely necessary to 
salvation. For what is repentance, but a hearty turn 
ing from sin to God and his service? and what way is 
there to turn to God, but through Christ, " who is the 
way, the truth, and the life ; without whom none Com- 
eth to the Father?" John xiv. 6; and what way is 
there of coming to Christ, but by faith? Therefore, 
if we would turn to God in the right way, we must 
first come to Christ by faith ; and faith must go before 
repentance, as the great instrument afforded us by the 
grace of God for the effectual performance of it. Re- 
pentance is indeed a duty which sinners owe naturally 
to God ; but the great question is, How shall sinners 
be able to perform it ? This question is resolved only 
by the gospel of Christ, Repent and believe. The way 
to repent, is to begin with believing. Therefore the 
great doctrine of John, in his baptism of repentance, 
was, that they should believe in Him that should come 
after him, that is, on Christ Jesus, Acts xix. 4. 

2. Regeneration also is necessary to salvation, John 
iii. 3 ; and therefore, many desire to find it wrought in 
themselves before they trust on Christ for their salva- 
tion. But consider what regeneration is. It is a new 
begetting or creating us in Christ, 1 Cor. iv. 15, Eph. 
ii. 10; in whom we are partakers of a divine nature, 
far different from that which we received from the first 
Adam. JSow, faith is the uniting grace whereby Christ 
dwells in us and we in Him, as hath been showed ; 
and therefore it is the first grace wrought in our re- 
generation, and the means of all the rest : when you 
truly believe, you are regenerated, and not till then. 
Those that receive Christ by believing, and those only, 
are the sons of God, " which are born not of blood, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God," John i. 12, 13. 

3. They account it necessary to receive Christ as 
their Lord and lawgiver, by a sincere resignation of 



128 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

themselves to his government, and a resolution to obey 
his law, before they receive him as their Saviour This 
is one principal lesson of the new divinity, and such a 
receiving Christ as Lord is made to be the great act of 
saving faith ; without which such faith as I have de- 
scribed, whereby we trust on Christ for salvation, is 
reckoned no better than gross presumption. They 
teach, that Christ will not bestow his salvation on those 
that do not first yield their subjection to his kingly 
authority ; but He calls them his enemies, because 
they would not that He should reign over them, and 
requires that they be brought and slain before Him, 
Luke xix. 27. And I own it as a certain truth, that 
Christ will save none but those that are brought to 
resign themselves sincerely to the obedience of his 
royal authority and laws. But yet we must observe 
that they are not brought to this holy resignation, or 
to any sincere purpose and resolution of obedience, 
before they receive his salvation, but rather by receiv- 
ing it. Men who were never thoroughly sensible of 
their natural death in sin, easily bring themselves to 
resolve universal obedience to God, when they are on 
their death-beds, or in any imminent danger, or when 
they would prepare themselves for the Lord's Supper, 
that so they may make their peace with God, and trust 
securely on Christ for his salvation. But all resolutions 
of that kind are vain and hypocritical, sooner broken 
than made. Those that know the plague of their own 
hearts, find that their mind is enmity unto the law of 
God and Christ, and cannot be subject unto it, Rom. 
viii. 7, and that they can as soon remove a mountain, 
as give up themselves sincerely to obedience, before 
they trust on Christ for his salvation, and for the gift 
of a new heart, whereby they may be enabled both to 
will and to do anything that is acceptable to God. We 
should have been under sufficient obligations to all 
obedient purposes, resolutions and resignations, if 
Christ had never come into the world to save us ; but 



VII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 129 

He knew that we could perform nothing liolily, except 
He made us first partakers of salvation ; and that we 
shall never obey him as lawgiver, until we receive him 
as Saviour. He is a saving Lord; trust on him first 
to save you from the guilt and power of sin, and domin- 
ion of Satan, and to give you a new spiritual disposi- 
tion ; then, and not till then, the love of Christ will 
constrain you to resign yourself heartily to live to him 
that died for you, 2 Cor. v. 14 ; and you will be able 
to say, with an unfeigned resolution, ''0 Lord, truly I 
am thy servant ; I am thy servant, and the son of 
thy handmaid : thou hast loosed my bands." Psal. 
cxvi. 16. 

4. It seems to them evident, that some good works 
are necessary, before we can trust on Christ safely for 
the forgiveness of sins ; because our Saviour leaches 
us, that if we forgive not men their trespasses, neither 
will our heavenly Father forgive our trespasses; and 
directs us to pray, " Forgive us our debts, as we 
forgive our debtors," Matt. vi. 12, 15. Restitution also 
was to be made of things wrongfully gotten from 
others, before the sacramental atonement was made by 
the trespass-offering, Lev. vi. 5, V. I answer, This is 
sufficient to prove, that forgiving others, and restitution, 
according to our ability, or at least a sincere desire and 
purpose so to do, are very closely joined with the for- 
giveness of our sins, and are very necessary to fit us 
for prayer, and for sacramental applications of pardon- 
ing grace to ourselves. A lively faith cannot be with- 
out these fruits, and therefore we cannot pray, or par- 
take of sacraments, in faith, without them ; but yet, 
if we strive to do either of these before we trust on 
Christ for our pardon and salvation, we shall do them 
slavishly and hypocritically, not in a holy, acceptable 
manner. Our forgiving others will not be accompanied 
with any hearty love to them as to ourselves, for the 
sake of God ; and our restitution will be but a forced 
fcct, like Pharaoh's letting the children of Israel go ; 



130 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

or like Judas' restoring the pieces of silver, being com- 
pelled thereunto by terror of spirit ; and when the 
terror that forced us is removed, we shall be as ready 
to recall our forgiveness, and to wrong others again, as 
Pharaoh was to bring the Israelites again into bondage 

o o o 

after he had let them go, Exod. xiv. 5. If you would 
forgive others heartily, so as to love them again, you 
must first, by faith in Christ, apprehend the love and 
mercy of God towards yourselves, and then you will 
be able, according to the Apostle's instructions, to be 
kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, "even as 
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you," Eph. iv. 
32. The readiness of Zaccheus to make restitution, 
followed upon a discovery of Christ's love to him ; and 
his joyfully receiving Christ into his house, was fruit 
whereby he evidenced the truth of that faith that 
was already wrought in his heart. 

5. I shall reckon up together several other qualifica- 
tions that distressed souls would find in themselves, 
that they may be duly prepared to trust on Christ for 
their salvation; and wheji they have labored anxiously 
a long time, and cannot get them, at last they lie down 
in sorrowful despondence, not daring to apply the con- 
solations of the grace of God in Christ to their wounded 
consciences. 

Let perplexed souls mark the particulars, and ob- 
serve whether the condition of their own souls be 
reached in any of them. " thou afflicted, tossed with 
tempests, and not comforted," what good qualifications 
are they that thou would st have, that thou may est be 
encouraged to lay hold on Christ for salvation? It is 
likely thou wilt answer, iu the bitterness of thy soul : 
" let me have first some love to God and godliness in 
my heart, and freedom from my hateful heart risings 
against Rim and His service ! Let me have some good 
thoughts of God, his justice, mercy, holiness, that I 
may be able to justify Him though He damn me, and 
that I may not be filled with murmuring and hellish 



VII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 131 

blasphemies in my mind against Him. Let the raging 
of my lusts be abated, and the pollutions of my wicked 
heart a little cleansed. Let me have some holy refer- 
ential fear of God, and not merely a panic tormenting 
horror. I would be more affected with the wrath of 
God, and not be of a slighting, heedless spirit. I would 
be more humbled for sin, loathe it, and be ashamed of, 
and be sorry for it with a godly sorrow, not merely be- 
cause of the punishment, but because it grieves and 
vexes the Holy Spirit of God. I would be able to 
make a willing and ingenuous confession of sin, and to 
pour out my soul to the Lord in lively affectionate 
prayer for forgiveness, and to praise and glorify Him 
heartily, and not be like a lifeless stone in the duty of 
prayer, as I am." Are these the things thou desirest, 
poor distressed soul ? The best reply I can make 
for thy speedy comfort, is, to inform thee, that the 
things are good, but thy desires are not well timed. It 
is unreasonable for thee to expect these holy qualifica- 
tions, while thou art in thy natural state, under the 
guilt of sin, and the apprehension of the wrath of God, 
before thou hast received the atonement, and the new 
spiritual life that is by Christ through faith in His name. 
Thou dost but exasperate thy corruptions, and harden 
thy heart, and make thy " wounds to stink the more be- 
cause of thy foolishness. " Such good qualifications are 
included in the nature of faith, and for the most part 
they follow after it ; so that they cannot possibly be 
obtained before thou trustest in Christ for thy salvation ; 
as I shall show concerning them particularly in their 
order. A love to the salvation of God, and to the free 
gift of holiness, is included in the nature of faith ; so 
that it cannot be hearty without it. Act faith first, 
and the apprehension of God's love to thy soul will 
sweetly allure and constrain thee to love God and His 
service universally : " We love Him, because He first 
laved us," 1 John iv. 19. We cannot be beforehand 
with God in love ; and we must perceive His love, to 



132 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

make us love Him : for if we look up to Him as a God 
contrary to us, who hates us, and will damn us, our 
own innate self-love will breed hatred and heart- 
risings against Him, in spite of our hearts. That love, 
which is the end of the law, must flow from " faith un- 
feigned,'' 1 Tim. i. 5. And, if hatred work in thee 
more than love, how canst thou expect good thoughts 
of God, or any other than blaspheming, or at least 
murmuring thoughts of Him, in this condition ? Ill- 
will never speaks or thinks well. The first right, holy 
thoughts thou canst have of God, are thoughts of His 

o .... 

grace and mercy to thy soul in Christ, which are in- 
cluded in the grace of faith. Get these thoughts first 
by believing in Christ, and they will produce in thee 
love to God, and all good thoughts of Him, and free 
thee from blasphemous and murmuring thoughts by 
degrees ; for " love thinks no evil," 1 Cor. xiii. 5. Then 
wilt thou be able to account God just and merciful, if 
He had damned thee, and extended His grace to 
others ; and thou wilt be able to think well of His 
holiness, and of his decrees, which many cannot endure 
to hear of. The way to get rid of thy raging lusts, is 
by faith, that " purifieth the heart, and worketh by 
love," Acts xv. 9, Gal. v. 6. The soul must be brought 
to take pleasure in God and Christ by faith, or else it 
will lust after fleshly and worldly pleasures. And the 
more you strive against lusts without faith, the more 
they are stirred up, though you prevail so far as to re- 
strain the fulfilling of them. Beg a holy fear of God, 
with fear ( f coming short of the promised rest through 
unbelief, Heb. iv. 1. Such a fear is an ingredient of 
faith, and it will produce in us a reverential, yea, a 
child-like fear of God and his goodness ; Heb. xii. 28, 
Hos. iii. 5. " We must have grace, whereby we may 
serve God with reverence," &c. It is in the margin, 
"We must have or hold fast grace." And there is no 
other way to hold fast grace but by faith ; and this will 
quickly calm all panic and tormenting horror. And if 



VII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 133 

you would be free from carelessness, and slighting the 
wrath of God, your way is, first, by believing, to avoid 
despairing ; for people grow careless by despairing ; 
and, for their own quiet, they will endeavor to slight 
evils which they have no hope to prevent ; according 
to the proverb, " Let us eat and drink ; for to-morrow 
we die," 1 Cor. xv. 32. True humiliation for sin is 
either a part or fruit of faith ; for, on our believing, 
" we shall remember our own evil ways and doings that 
were not good, and shall loathe ourselves in our own 
sight for all our abominations," Ezek. xxxvi. 31. We 
shall also then willingly renounce our own righteous- 
ness, and " account it but dung, that we may win 
Christ" by faith, Phil. iii. V, 8. But beggars will make 
the most of all their filthy rags, till they be furnished 
with better clothes ; and cripples will not cast away 
their crutches, until they have a better support to lean 
on. Godly sorrow for sin is wrought in us by the par- 
doning grace of God : as it is found by experience, that 
a pardon from a prince will sometimes sooner draw 
tears from a stubborn malefactor, than the fe.tr of a 
halter. Thus the sinful woman was brought to wash 
Christ's feet with her tears, Luke vii. 37, 38. We are 
not likely to be sorry for grieving God with our sins, 
while we look upon Him as an enemy, that will ease 
Himself well enough of His burden, and right Himself 
upon us by our everlasting destruction. The belief of 
God's pardoning and accepting grace, is a necessary 
means to bring us to an ingenuous confession of sins. 
The people freely confessed their sins, when they were 
baptized of John in Jordan, "for the remission of sins," 
Mark i. 4, 5. The confession of despairers is forced, 
like the extorted confessions and cries of malefactors 
upon the rack. A pardon sooner opens the mouth to 
an ingenuous confession, than confess and be hanged ; 
or confess and be damned. Therefore, if you would 
freely confess your sins, believe first, that " God is faith* 
ful and just to forgive your sins" through Christ, 1 

12 



134 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

John i. 9. And, if you would pray to God or praise 
Him, with lively affections, you must first believe that 
God will hear you, and give you what is best for you 
for Christ's sake, John xvi. 23, 24 ; otherwise your 
praying will be only from the teeth outward ; for 
how shall you call on Him "in whom you have not be- 
lieved?" Rom. x. 14. You must come first to Christ, 
the altar, by faith, that by Him you may " offer the 
sacrifice of praise to God continually," Heb. xiii. 10, 15. 
Finally, To pass from particulars to the general a^ 
sertion laid down in the direction ; if you ask, What 
shall we do that we may work the works of God, or 
get any saving qualifications ? I must direct you first 
to faith, as the work of works, and the great saving 
preparatory to all good qualifications, by answering 
in our Saviour's words, "This is the work of God, 
that ye believe on him whom He hath sent," John 
vi. 28, 29. 



DIRECTION VIII. 



Be sure to seek for holiness of heart and life only in its due 
order, where God hath placed it, after union with Christ, justifi- 
cation, and the gift of the Holy Ghost ; and, in that order, seek 
it earnestly by faith, as a very necessary part of your salvation. 

EXPLICATION. 

I hope the reader will cautiously observe in all these 
directions, that the holiness aimed at as the great end 
in the whole discourse, consists not in the grace or act 
of faith, required peculiarly by the Gospel; which, 
though it be a saving gift of Christ, yet is here consid- 
ered rather as a means precedent to the reception of 
Christ, and all his salvation, than a part of his salva- 



VIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 135 

tion received. But the holiness aimed at, consists in 
conformity to the whole moral law to which we are 
naturally obliged, if there had never been any gospel, 
or any such duty as believing in Christ for salva- 
tion. 

Now, in this direction, three things are contained 
that are very necessary to guide us to the attainment 
of this great end ; and therefore worthy of our serious 
consideration. 

First, It is a matter of high concern, to be ac- 
quainted with the due place and order wherein God 
has settled this holy practice in the mystery of our 
salvation, and a great point of Christian wisdom to 
seek it only in that order. We know that God is the 
God of order, and that His infinite wisdom has appear- 
ed in appointing the order of His creatures, which we 
are forced to observe for the attainment of our ends in 
worldly things ; so also in spiritual things : " God hath 
made an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, 
and sure," 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. The benefits of it have an 
orderly dependence upon each other, as links of the 
same golden ,hain, though several of them, and a title 
to them all is given to us at one and at the same time. 
And I think enough has been said already, to show in 
what order God brings us to the practice of the moral 
law. He makes us first to be in Christ by faith, as 
branches in the vine, that we may bring forth much 
fruit, John xv. 4, 5. He first purges our consciences 
from dead works by justification, that we may serve 
the living God, Heb. ix. 14. He makes us first to live 
in the Spirit, and then to walk in the Spirit, Gal. v. 25. 
This is the order prescribed in the Gospel, which is the 
power of God unto salvation, though the law pre- 
scribes a quite contrary method, that we should first 
perform its commands, that so we may be justified and 
live ; and thereby it proves a killing letter to us. 
Now, mark well the great advantages you have for the 



186 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

attainment of holiness, by seeking it in a right gospel- 
order. You will have the advantage of the love of 
God manifested toward you, in forgiving your sins, re- 
ceiving you into favor, and giving you the spirit of 
adoption, and the hope of His glory, freely, through 
Christ, to persuade and constrain you, by sweet allure- 
ments, to love God again, who has so dearly loved you, 
and to love others for his sake, and to give up your- 
selves to the obedience of all his commands out of 
hearty love to Him ; you will also enjoy the help of 
the Spirit of God, to incline you powerfully to obedi- 
ence, and to strengthen you for the performance of it 
against all your corruptions, and the temptations of 
Satan ; so that you will have both wind and tide to 
forward your voyage in the practice of holiness. On 
the contrary, if you rush upon the immediate perform- 
ance of the law, without taking Christ's righteousness 
and his Spirit in the way to it, you will find both wind 
and tide against you : your guilty consciences, and cor- 
rupt dead natures, will certainly defeat, and frustrate 
all your enterprises and attempts to love God, and 
serve Him in love, and you will but stir up sinful lusts 
instead of stirring up yourselves to true obedience ; or 
at best, you will but attain to some slavish and hypo- 
critical performances. Oh ! that people would be per- 
suaded to consider the due place of holiness in the 
mystery of salvation, and to seek it only there, where 
they have all the advantage of gospel grace to find it. 
Many miscarry in their zealous enterprises for godli- 
ness ; and, after they have spent much labor in vain, 
God makes a breach upon them, even to their everlast- 
ing destruction, as he did upon Uzza, to a temporal de- 
struction, " Because they sought him not after a due 
order," 1 Chron. xiii. 10. 

Secondly, We are to look upon holiness as a very 
necessary part of that salvation that is received by 
faith in Christ. Some are so wrapped up in a cove- 



VIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 13? 

nant of works, that they accuse us of making good 
works needless to salvation, if we will not acknowledge 
them to be necessary, either as conditions to procure 
an interest in Christ, or as preparatives to fit us for re- 
ceiving Him by faith. And others, when they are 
taught by the Scriptures, that we are saved by faith, 
through faith, without works, do begin to disregard all 
obedience to the law as not at all necessary to salva- 
tion, and do account themselves obliged to it only in 
point of gratitude : if it be wholly neglected, they 
doubt not but free grace will save them harmless. 
Yea, some are given up to such strong Antinomian 
delusions, that they account it a part of the liberty 
from the bondage of the law purchased by the blood 
of Christ, to make no conscience of breaking the law in 
their conversation. One cause of these errors, that are 
so contrary one to the other, is, that many are prone 
to imagine nothing else to be meant by salvation, but 
to be delivered from hell, and to enjoy heavenly hap- 
piness and glory : lrence they conclude, that, if good 
works be a means of glorification, and precedent to it, 
they must also be a precedent means of our whole sal- 
vation ; and that, if they be not a necessary means of 
our whole salvation, they are not all necessary to glo- 
rification. But though salvation be often taken in 
Scripture, by way of eminency, for its perfection in 
the state of heavenly glory, yet, according to its full 
and proper signification, we are to understand by it, 
all that freedom from the evil of our natural corrapt 
state, and all those holy and happy enjoyments that we 
receive from Christ our Saviour, either in this world by 
faith, or in the world to come by glorification. 

Thus, justification, the gift of the Spirit to dwell in 
us, the privileges of adoption, are parts of our salva- 
tion, which we partake of in this life. Thus also, the 
conformity of our hearts to the law of God, and the 
fruits of righteousness with which we are filled by Je- 
sus Christ in this life, are a necessary part of our sal- 
12* 



138 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

vation. God saves us from our sinful uncleanness here ; 
by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
Holy Ghost, as well as from hell hereafter, Ezek. xxxv, 
29. Tit. iii. 5. Christ was called Jesus, that is a Sav- 
iour, because He saved His people from their sins, Matt. 
i. 21. Therefore it is part of our salvation, to deliver 
us from our sins; which is begun, in this life, by jus- 
tification, and sanctification, and perfected by glorih' ca- 
tion in the life to come. Can we rationally doubt, 
whether it be any proper part of our salvation by 
Christ, to be quickened, to live to God, when we were 
by nature dead in trespasses and sins ; and to have the 
image of God in holiness and righteousness restored to 
us, which we lost by the fall : and to be freed from a 
vile, dishonorable slavery to Satan and our own lusts, 
and made the servants of God ; and to be honored so 
highly, as to walk by the Spirit, and bring forth the 
fruits of the Spirit ? and yet what is all this but holi- 
ness in heart and life ? We conclude, then, than holi- 
ness in this life is absolutely necessary to salvation, not 
only as a means to the end, but by a nobler kind of 
necessity, as part of the end itself. Though we are not 
saved by good works, as pocuring causes, yet we are 
saved to good works as fruits and effects of saving 
grace ; which God has prepared that we should walk 
in them; Eph. ii. 10. It is indeed one part of our 
salvation, to be delivered from the bondage of the 
covenant of works ; but the end of tins is, not that we 
may have liberty to sin, (which is the worst of slavery,) 
but that we may fulfil the royal law of liberty, and 
that w r e may serve " in newness of spirit, and not in 
the oldness of the letter," Gal. v. 13, Rom. vii. 6. Yea, 
holiness in this life is such a part of our salvation, as 
is a necessary means to make us meet to be partakers 
of the inheritance of the saints in heavenly light and 
glory; without holiness we can never see God, Heb. xii. 
14, and are as unfit for the glorious presence, as swine 
for the presence-chamber of an earthly prince. I 



VIII.] OF SANCTTFICATION. 139 

confess some may be converted, when they are so near 
the point of death, that they may have little time to 
practise holiness in this world : but the grace of the 
Spirit is active, like fire, Matt. iii. 11, and, as soon as 
it is given, it will immediately produce good inward 
working of love to God, and Christ, and His people ; 
which will be sufficient to manifest the righteous judg- 
ment of God in saving them at the great day, when 
He shall judge every man according to his work; 
though some possibly may not have so much time to 
discover their inward grace in any outward works, as 
the thief upon the cross, Luke xxiiL 40, 43. 

The third and last thing to be noted in this direction, 
is, That holiness of heart and life is to be sought for 
earnestly by faith, as a very necessary part of our sal- 
vation. Great multitudes of ignorant people, that live 
under the Gospel, harden their hearts in sin, and ruin 
their souls forever, by trusting on Christ for such an 
imaginary salvation, as consists not at all in holiness, 
but only in forgiveness of sin, and deliverance from ever- 
lasting torments. They would be free from the punish- 
ment due to sin ; but they love their lusts so well, that 
they hate holiness, and would not be saved from the 
service of sim The way to oppose the pernicious de- 
lusion is, not to deny, as some do, that trusting on 
Christ for salvation is a saving act of faith ; but rather 
to show, that none do or can trust on Christ for true 
salvation, except they trust on Him for holiness ; nei- 
ther do they heartily desire true salvation, if they do 
not desire to be made holy and righteous in their hearts 
and lives. If ever God and Christ give you salvation, 
holiness will be one part of it ; if Christ wash you not 
from the filth of your sins, you have no part with Him, 
John xiii. 8. What a strange kind of salvation do they 
desire, that care not for holiness ! They would be 
saved, and yet be altogether dead in sin, aliens from 
the life of God, bereft of the image of God, deformed 



140 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

by the image of Satan, his slaves, and vassals to theif 
own filthy lusts, utterly unmeet for the enjoyment of 
God in glory. Such a salvation as that was never pur- 
chased by the blood of Christ ; and those that seek it, 
abuse the grace of God in Christ, and turn it into las- 
civiousness. They would be saved by Christ, and yet 
out of Christ in a fleshly state ; whereas God frees 
none from condemnation, but those that are in Christ, 
that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit : or 
else they would divide Christ, and take a part of His 
salvation, and leave out the rest ; but Christ is not di- 
vided, 1 Cor, i. 13. They would have their sins for- 
given, not that they may walk with God in love in time 
to come, but that they may practise their enmity 
against Him, without any fear of punishment. But let 
them not be deceived, God is not mocked. They un- 
derstand not what true salvation is, neither were they 
ever yet thoroughly sensible of their lost estate, and of 
the great evil of sin ; and that which they trust on 
Christ for, is but an imagination of their own brains; 
and therefore their trusting is gross presumption. True 
gospel faith makes us come to Christ with a thirsty 
appetite, that we may drink of living water, even of 
His sanctifying Spirit, John vii. 37, 38 ; and to cry out 
earnestly to save us, not only from hell, but from sin ; 
saying, " Teach us to do thy will ; thy Spirit is good," 
Ps. cxiii. 10. " Turn thou me and I shall be turned/* 
Jer. xxxi. 18. "Create in me a clean heart, God, 
and renew a right spirit within me," Ps. li. 10. This is 
the way whereby the doctrine of salvation by grace 
necessitates us to holiness of life, by constraining us to 
seek for it by faith in Christ, as a substantial part of 
that salvation which is freely given to us through 
Christ. 



IX.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 141 



DIRECTION IX. 

We must first receive the comforts of the Gospel, that we may 
be able to perform sincerely the duties of the law. 

EXPLICATION. 

Since man fell from obedience to God, which he was 
enabled and engaged to perform by the comforts of his 
first happy state in paradise, God might have justly 
refused ever to give man again any comforts before- 
hand, to encourage him to his duty ; that the way to 
holiness being hedged up against him with the thorns 
and briers of fear, grief, and despair, he might never 
be able to escape the sentence of death which was de- 
nounced against his first transgression. This justice of 
God is manifest in the method of the legal covenant, 
wherein God promises us no life, comfort, or happiness, 
until we have thoroughly performed His law ; and may 
be seen in the Mount Sinai promulgation, explicated, 
Lev. xxvL throughout. And we are by nature so 
strongly addicted to this legal method of salvation, 
that it is a hard matter to dissuade those that live un- 
der the light of the Gospel, from placing the duties of 
the law before the comforts of the Gospel. If they 
cannot make salvation itself, yet they will be sure to 
make all the comforts of it, to depend upon their own 
works. They think it as unreasonable to expect com- 
fort before duty, as wages before work, or the fruits of 
the earth before the husbandman's labor, 2 Tim. ii. 6. 
They consider that the only effectual way to secure 
the obedience we owe to the law of God, is to ground all 
our comforts on the performance of it ; and that the 
contrary doctrine strengthens the hands of the wicked, 
by prophesying peace to them, where there is no peace, 
Ezek. xiii. 16, 22 ; and opens the floodgates to all li- 



142 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

centiousness. Therefore some preachers will advise men 
not to be solicitous and hasty of getting comfort, but 
that they should rather exercise themselves diligently 
in the performance of their duty; and they tell them, 
that, in so doing-, their condition will be safe and happy 
at last ; though they never enjoy any comfort of their 
salvation, as long as they live in this world. 

That you may rightly understand what I have asserted 
in the direction against such vulgar errors, take notice, 
that I do not make the only place of gospel comfort 
to be before the duties of the law. I acknowledge, 
that God comforts his people on every side, Psal. lxxi. 
21, both before and after the performance of their duty, 
and that the greatest consolations follow after duty ; 
yet some comforts God gives to his people beforehand^ 
as advance money, to furnish them for his service, 
though most of the pay comes in afterward. Neither 
do I hereby speak any peace to those that continue in 
their sinful natural state : for the comforts I speak of, 
cannot be received without rejecting those false confi- 
dences whereby natural men harden themselves in sin, 
nor without that effectual working of the Spirit, where- 
by we are made good trees, that we may bring forth 
good fruit. Though they are given before the sincere 
practice of the law, yet they are not given to us in our 
corrupt sinful nature, but in and with the new holy 
nature ; which immediately produces a holy practice, 
though it must necessarily go before, as the cause be- 
fore the effect: and they are no other than comforts 
of those spiritual benefits by which our new state and 
nature is produced, and of which it is constituted and 
made up ; as the comforts of redemption, justification, 
adoption, the gift of the Spirit, and the like. Neither 
do I intend here any transport or ravishment of joy 
and delight, but onlv such manner of comfort, as ra- 
tionally strengthens, in some measure, against the op- 
pression of fear, grief, and despair, which we are liable 
to, by reason of our natural sinfulness and misery. 



IX.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 143 

This explanation of the sense of my assertion, is suf- 
ficient to answer some common objections against it. 
And I hope the truth of it will be fully evidenced by 
the following arguments. 

First, This truth is clearly deducible from those 
principles of holiness that have been already confirmed. 
I have showed, that we must have a good persuasion 
of our reconciliation with God, and of our happiness in 
heaven, and of our sufficient strength both to will and 
to do that which is acceptable to God through Jesus 
Christ, that we may be rationally inclined and bent to 
the practice of holiness ; and that these endowments 
must be had, by receiving Christ himself, with His Spirit 
in all His fulness, by trusting on Him for all His salva- 
tion, as He is freely promised to us in the Gospel ; and 
that by His faith we as really receive Christ, as our food 
by eating and drinking. Now let right reason judge; 
can we be persuaded of the love of God, of our ever- 
lasting happiness, and our strength to serve God, and 
yet be without any comforts ? Can the glad tidings 
of the gospel of peace be believed, and Christ and His 
Spirit actually received into the heart, without any re- 
lief to the soul from oppressing fear, grief, despair? 
Can the salvation of Christ be comfortless, or the bread 
and water of life without any sweet relish, to those 
that feed on Him, with hungering and thirsting appetites ? 
God will not give such benefits as these to those that 
do not desire and esteem them above the world. And 
certainly the very receiving of them will be comfortable 
to such, except they receive them blindfold; which 
they cannot do, when the very giving and bestowing 
them, opens the eyes of a sinner, and turns him from 
darkness to light, whereby, at least in some measure, 
he sees and perceives spiritually the things that con- 
cern his present and future peace, and reaps seme en- 
couraging and strengthening comfort thereby to the 
practice of holiness. 

Secondly, Peace, joy, hope, are recommended to i&? 



144 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

in Scripture, as the spring of other holy duties ; and 
fear and oppressing grief forbidden, as hindrances to 
true religion : " The peace of God keepeth our hearts 
and minds through Christ Jesus," Phil, iv 7. 'Be not 
sorry: for the joy of the Lord is your strength, " Neh. 
viii. 10. "Every man that hath his hope in him, puri- 
fieth himself, even as he is pure," 1 John iii. 3. " Fear 
hath torment: he that feareth is not made perfect in 
love/' 1 John iv. 18. This is the reason why the Apos- 
tle doubles his exhortation, to rejoice in the Lord al- 
ways, as a duty of exceeding weight and necessity, 
Phil. iv. 4. What are such duties but comfort itself? 
And can we think that these duties are necessary to 
our continuance in a holy practice, and yet not to the 
beginning of it, where the work is most difficult, and 
encouragement most needful. Therefore we must make 
haste, in the first place, to get a comfortable frame of 
spirit, if we would make haste, and not delay, to keep 
God's holy commandments. 

Thirdly, The usual method of gospel doctrine, as it 
is delivered to us in the holy Scriptures, is, first to 
comfort our hearts, and thereby to establish us in every 
good word and work, 2 Thess. ii. 17. And if appears 
how clearly this method is adjusted in several epistles 
written by the apostles, wherein they first acquaint the 
churches with the rich grace of God toward them in 
Christ, and the spiritual blessings which they are made 
partakers of, for their strong consolation ; and then they 
exhort them to a holy conversation answerable to such 
privileges. And it is not only the method of whole 
epistles, but of many particular exhortations to duty, 
wherein the comfortable benefits of the grace of God 
in Christ, are made use of as arguments and motives 
to stir up the saints to a holy practice ; which comfort- 
able benefits must first be believed, and the comfort of 
them applied to our own souls, or else they will not be 
forcible to engage us to the % practice for which they are 
intended. To give you a few instances out of a multi- 



II.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 145 

tude that might be alleged ; we are exhorted to prac- 
tise holy duties, because we are dead to sin, and alive 
to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, Rom. vi. 11 ; 
and because " sin shall not have dominion over us ; for 
we are not under the law, but under grace," Rom. vi. 
14 ; because we " are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit ; 
and God will quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit 
dwelling in us," Rom. viii. 9, 11, 12; because our 
" bodies are the members of Christ, and the temples 
of the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor. vi. 15, 19; because " God 
hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin ; that 
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him," 
2 Cor. v. 21, and has promised, that " He will dwell in 
us, and walk in us, and be to us a father, and we shall 
be to Him sons and daughters," 2 Cor. vi. 18, with 
chap. vii. 1 ; because God has forgiven us for Christ's 
sake ; and accounts us his dear children ; and Christ 
has loved us, and given himself for us ; and we that 
" were sometimes darkness are now light in the Lord," 
Eph. iv. 32, and v. 1, 2, 8 ; because we "are risen with 
Christ ; and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, 
then we shall also appear with Him in glory," Col. iii. 
1, 4; because God has said, "I will never leave thee 
nor forsake thee," Heb. xiii. 5; because of the many 
promises made to us, 2 Cor. vii. 1. Search the Scrip- 
tures, and you may, with delight, see, that this is the 
vein that runs through gospel exhortations ; and you 
may find the like vein of comfort running through the 
prophetical exhortations in the Old Testament. 

Some may object, "That the apostles used this 
method in their writings to saints, who had practised 
holiness already, that so they might continue and in- 
crease therein." But to that I may easily reply, If it 
be a method needful for grown saints, much more for 
beginners, that find the work of obedience most diffi- 
cult, and have most need of strong consolation. And 
I hope to show, how we may be able to lay hold of 
these consolations by faith in the very first beginning 
13 



146 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

of a holy life. Besides, the Gospel proposes peace 
and comfort freely to those that are riot yet brought 
to holiness, that, if they have hearts to receive it, they 
may be converted from sin to righteousness. When 
the apostles entered into a house, they were first to 
say, Peace be to this house, Luke x. 5. At their very 
first preaching to sinners, they acquainted them with 
the glad tidings of salvation by Christ, for every one 
that would receive it as a free gift by faith, Acts iii. 26, 
and xiii. 26, 32, 38; and xvi. 30, 31. They assured 
them, if they would but trust heartily on Christ for all 
His salvation, they should have it, although they were 
at present the chief of sinners ; which was comfort suf- 
ficient for all that duly esteem spiritual comfort, hun- 
gering and thirsting after it. And this is a method 
agreeable to the design of the Gospel ; which is, to ad- 
vance the riches of the grace of God in all our spiritual 
enjoyments. God will give us His consolations before 
our good works, as well as after them, that we may 
know that He gives us everlasting consolation, and good 
hope through grace, and not through the procurement 
of our works, 2 Thess. ii. 6. 

Fourthly, The nature of the duties of the law re- 
quires a comfortable state of the soul for the perform- 
ance of them. I have before proved sufficiently, that 
they require a persuasion of our reconciliation with God, 
and of our future happiness, and strength whereby we 
may be able to walk in holy obedience : Joshua must 
be strong and very courageous, that he might observe 
to do according to the law that Moses the servant of 
the Lord commanded him, Josh. i. 7. I shall instance 
briefly some comforts, without which several great 
duties cannot be sincerely performed. Can we love 
God and delight in Him above all, while we look upon 
Him as our everlasting enemy, and apprehend no love 
and mercy in Him toward us, that may render Him a 
suitable good for us, and lovely in our eyes ? What 
doleful melody will the heart make in the duty of 



IX.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 14*J 

praise, if we consider, that all those perfections for 
which we praise Him, will rather aggravate our misery, 
than make us happy ! What a heartless work will it 
be to pray to Him, and to offer up ourselves to His 
service, if we have no comfortable hope that He will 
accept us ! It is possible for us to free ourselves from 
carking cares, by casting our care upon the Lord, if we 
do not apprehend He cares for us ? Can we be patient 
in affliction with cheerfulness, and under persecutions, 
except we have peace with God, and rejoice in hope 
of the glory of God? Rom. v. 1, 2, 3. What reason 
can persuade us to submit willingly, according to our 
duty, to the stroke of present death, if God be pleased 
to lay it upon us, when we have no comforts to relieve 
us against the horrible fear of intolerable torments in 
hell forever ? 

If we should be called to suffer martyrdom for the 
Protestant religion, as our ancestors in this nation have 
done, we should find it necessary to abandon the late 
upstart notions that have been bred in a time of ease, 
and to embrace the comfortable doctrine of former 
Protestants, which, through the grace of God, made 
so many courageous and joyful martyrs. 

Fifthly, The state of those that are to be brought 
from sin to godliness, requires necessarily, that, after 
they be convinced of the vanity of their former false 
confidences, and of their deadness in original sin, and 
subjection to the wrath of God, they should have a 
supply of new gospel comforts afforded, to encourage 
their fainting souls to holy practices. How little do 
many physicians of souls consider the condition of their 
unconverted patients, that are altogether without spirit- 
ual life and strength, and are or must be convinced 
thereof! He that prescribes bodily exercise to a man 
lying bed-ridden under a dead palsy, before any effec- 
tual means are used to strengthen him, deserves the 
name of a merciless, insulting tormentor, rather than 
of a wise and tender-hearted physician. How unrea- 



148 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERV [DIRECT. 

sonable is it to prescribe the immediate practice of love 
to God, and universal obedience to Him out of love, as 
the means of cure, for those that see nothing but wrath 
and enmit) T in God towards them in their present con- 
dition ! What is it but to require a man to work with- 
out strength, promising him, that he shall have strength 
when his work is done? for comfort or joy is so called, 
because it strengthens, Neh. viii. 10. True it is, that 
the law, which is the ministration of condemnation, 
obliges them to obedience ; but our merciful God expects 
no sincere performance of His law, from such impotent 
miserable wretches, in order to their salvation by Christ, 
till He lias first delivered them, in some measure, from 
those discomforts, slavish fears, and despondencies, that 
hold them captive under the law of sin and death. 
We may require a strong, healthy pereon, first to work, 
and then to expect meat, drink, and wages ; but a faint- 
ing, famished person, must first have food, or a reviv- 
ing cordial, to strengthen his heart, before he can 
work. 

Sixthly, Both Scripture and experience show, that 
this is the method whereby God brings His people from 
sin to holiness. Though some of them are brought 
under terrors for a while, that sin may be the more 
embittered, and the salvation of Christ rendered more 
precious and acceptable to them, yet such are again 
delivered from their terrors by the comfort of God's 
salvation, that they may be fitted for holiness. And, 
generally, a holy life begins with comfort, and is main- 
tained by it. God gave to Adam, at his first creation, 
the comfort of His love and favor, and the happiness 
of paradise, to encourage him to obedience ; and, when 
he had lost those comforts by the fall, he was no longer 
able to obey, until he was restored by new comfort of 
the promised seed. Christ, the second Adam, set God 
always before His face ; and He knew, that, because 
God was at His right hand, He should not be moved ; 
therefore His heart was glad, and His glory rejoiced, 



IX.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 149 

Psal. xvi. 8. 9. This made Him willing to bear His 
agony and bloody sweat, and to be obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross. God drew the Israelites 
to obedience with the cords of a man, with the bands 
of love, by taking off the yoke on their jaws, and lay- 
ing meat before them, Hos. xi. 4. David tells us, for 
our instruction, how he was brought to a holy coversa- 
tion : " Thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes : and I 
have walked in Thy truth," Psal. xxvi. 3. " Lord, I 
have hoped for Thy salvation, and done Thy command- 
ments," Psal. cxix. 166. We have several examples 
in the New Testament of the joy that sinners had in 
the first receiving of Christ, Acts ii. 41. And, when 
the Gospel first came to the Thessalonians, " they re- 
ceived the word in much affliction, with joy in the 
Holy Ghost," 1 Thess. i. 4, 5, 6. " When the Gentiles 
heard the word of God, they were glad ; and as many 
as were ordained to eternal life, believed," Acts xiii. 
48. The Apostle Paul was constrained, by the love 
of Christ, to give up himself to live to Christ, 2 Cor. 
v. 14, 15. I dare appeal to the experience of any that 
obey God out of hearty love. Let them examine 
themselves, and consider, whether they were brought 
to give up themselves to serve God in love wilhout 
comfortable apprehensions to the love of God toward 
them ? I dare say, there are no such prodigies in the 
new birth. 

Seventhly, What comfortless religion do those make, 
that allow people no comfort beforehand, to strength- 
en them for holy performances, which are very cross, 
displeasing, and grievous to their natural inclinations, 
as the plucking out a right eye, cutting off a right 
hand ; but would have them first to do such things 
with love and delight, under all their present fears, 
despondencies, and corrupt inclinations, and to hope, 
that, by doing the work thoroughly and sincerely, they 
shall at last attain to a more comfortable state ! All 
true spiritual comfort, as well as salvation, is indeed 
13* 



150 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

quite banished out of the world, if it be suspended upon 
the condition of our good works; which has already 
appeared to be the condition of the law, that works no 
comfort, but wrath, Rom. iv. 14, 15. This makes the 
ways of godliness odious to many. They think they 
shall never enjoy a pleasant hour in this world, if they 
walk in them; and they had rather comfort themselves 
with sinful pleasures, than have no comforts at all. 
Others labor a while in such a comfortless religion, 
with inward fretting and repining at the bondage of 
it, and at last grow weary, and throw off all religion, 
because they know none better. They that bind such 
heavy burdens upon men, and grievous to be borne, will 
plead, that they are not to be blamed, because they 
do but preach the Gospel of God and Christ ; where- 
as indeed, they preach a Gospel of man's own forging, 
contrary to the nature of the true Gospel of Christ, 
which is glad tidings of great joy to all people, Luke 
ii. 10. An uncomfortable Gospel cannot proceed from 
God the Father, who is " the Father of mercies, and 
the God of all comfort," 2 Cor. i. 3 ; nor from Christ, 
who is " the consolation of Israel," Luke ii. 25 ; nor 
from the Spirit, who is "the Comforter," John xiv. 16, 
17. God "meets him that rejoiceth and worketh 
righteousness," Isa. lxiv. 5. He will be served with 
gladness and singing; as he showed by the type of 
variety of music, and great numbers of musicians in 
the temple. Christ speaks to us by His Gospel, that 
His "joy may abide in us, and that our joy may be 
full," John xv. 11. No sorrow is approved of by God, 
except godly sorrow, which can never be in us without 
some comfort of the love of God towards us. They 
that are offended at the uncomfortableness of a religious 
life, never yet knew the true way of religion ; else 
they would find, that "the ways of wisdom are ways 
of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace," Prov. iii. 
17. 



X.] OF SANGUIFICATION. 151 



DIRECTION X. 

That we may be prepared by the comforts of the Gospel to 
perform sincerely the duties of the law, we must get some as- 
surance of our salvation, in that very faith whereby Christ Him- 
self is received into our hearts : therefore we must endeavor to 
believe on Christ confidently, persuading and assuring ourselves, 
in the act of believing, that God freely gives to us an interest in 
Christ and His salvation, according to His gracious promise. 

EXPLICATION. 

It is evident that those comforts of the Gospel that 
are necessary to a holy practice, cannot be truly re- 
ceived, without some assurance of our interest in 
Christ and His salvation ; for some of these comforts 
consist in a good persuasion of our reconciliation with 
God, and of our future heavenly happiness, and of 
strength both to will and do that which is acceptable 
to God through Christ, as has been before shown. 
Hence it will clearly follow, that this assurance is very 
necessary to enable us for the practice of holiness, as 
those comforts that must go before the duties of the law 
in order of nature as the cause goes before the effect, 
though not in any distance of time. My present work is, 
to show, what this assurance is, that is so necessary to 
holiness, and which I have here asserted we must act, 
in that very faith whereby we receive Christ Himself 
into our hearts, even in justifying, saving faith. This 
doctrine seems strange to many that profess themselves 
Protestants of late days ; whereas it was formerly highly 
owned by the chief Protestants whom God made use 
of to restore the purity of the Gospel, and to maintain 
it against the Papists for many years. They commonly 
taught, That faith was a persuasion or confidence of 
our own salvation by Christ; and that we must be 
sure to apply Christ and His salvation to ourselves in 



152 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

believing. And this doctrine was one of the great 
engines whereby they prevailed to overthrow the Po- 
pish superstition, of which, doubtfulness of salvation 
is one of the principal pillars. But many of the suc- 
cessors of the Protestants have deserted them, and 
left their writings to be shamefully insulted by the 
Papists. And this innovation has been of longer stand- 
ing among us, than several other parts of our new di- 
vinity, and maintained by those that profess to abhor 
that corrupt doctrine winch the Papists have built upon 
such principles. Modern divines may think that they 
stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors, whose 
labors they enjo}^, and that they can see further than 
they ; as the schoolmen might have like thoughts of 
the ancient fathers : but for all this, they may not be 
able to see so far, if the eyes of their predecessors were 
better enlightened by the Spirit of God, to understand 
the mystery of the Gospel. And why may we not 
judge that it is so in the present case ? The eyes of 
men in these late years have been blinded in this point 
of assurance by many false imaginations. They think, 
because salvation is not promised to us absolutely, but 
upon condition of believing on Christ for it ; therefore, 
we must first believe directly on Christ for our salva- 
tion, and, after that, we must reflect in our minds 
upon our faith, and examine it by several marks and 
signs, especially by the fruit of sincere obedience ; and 
if, upon this examination, we find out certainly that it 
is true saving faith, then, and not before, we may be- 
lieve assuredly, that we in particular shall be saved. 
On this account they say, that our salvation is by the 
direct, and our assurance by the reflex act of faith ; 
and that many have true faith, and shall be saved, who 
never had any assurance of their salvation as long as 
they live in this world. • They find by Scripture and ex- 
perience, that many precious saints of God are fre- 
quently troubled with doubtings whether they shall 
be saved, and whether their faith and obedience be 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 153 

sincere ; so that they cannot see assurance in them- 
selves ; therefore, they conclude, that assurance must 
not be accounted absolutely necessary to justifying faith 
and salvation, lest we should make the hearts of doubting 
saints sad and drive them to despair. They account 
that former Protestants were guilty of a manifest ab- 
surdity, in making assurance to be of the nature and 
definition of saving faith ; because all that hear the 
Gospel are bound to saving faith, and yet they are not 
bound absolutely to believe that they themselves shall 
be saved ; for then many of them would be bound to 
believe that which is not declared in the Gospel con- 
cerning them in particular : yea, that which is a plain 
lie, because the Gospel shows that man}^ of those that 
are called, are not chosen to salvation, but perish for- 
ever, Matt. xx. 16. No wonder if the appearance of 
so great an absurdity move many to imagine, that sav- 
ing faith is a trusting or resting on Christ, as the only 
sufficient means of salvation, without any assurance ; 
or, that it is a desiring and adventuring to trust or 
rely upon him, in a mere state of suspense and uncer- 
tainty concerning our salvation, or with a probable 
opinion or conjectural hope of it at best. 

Another objection against this doctrine of assurance, 
is, That it destroys self-examination ; brings forth the 
evil fruits of pride and arrogance, as if they knew their 
places in heaven already, before the day of judgment; 
causes carelessness of duty, carnal security, and all man- 
ner of licentiousness. And this makes them commend 
doubtfulness of our salvation, as necessary to maintain 
in us humility, religious fears, watchfulness, much 
searching and trying our spiritual state and ways, dili- 
gence in good works, and all devotion. 

Against all these contrary imaginations, I shall en- 
deavor to maintain this ancient Protestant doctrine of 
assurance, which I have expressed in the direction. 
And, first, I shall lay down some observations for the 
right understanding of it, which will be sufficient to 



154 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [riRECT. 

turn the edge of the strongest objections that can be 
made against it. 

First, Observe diligently, that the assurance referred 
to, is not a persuasion that we have already received 
Christ and His salvation, or that we have been already 
brought into a state of grace ; but only, that God is 
pleased graciously to give Christ and His salvation to 
us, and to bring us into a state of grace, though we 
have been altogether in a state of sin and death until 
this present time ; so that this doctrine does not at all 
tend to excite presumption in wicked and unregenerate 
men, that their state is good already, but only en- 
courages them to come to Christ confidently for a good 
state. I acknowledge that we may, yea, many must be 
taught to doubt whether their present state be good ; 
and that it is humility so to do ; and that we must find 
out the certainty and sincerity of our faith and obedi- 
ence by self-examination, before we can have a well- 
grounded assurance that we are in a state of grace and 
salvation already ; and that such an assurance belongs 
to that which they call the reflex acts of faith, (if any 
act of faith can be made of it, it being a spiritual sense 
of feeling of what is in myself,) and is not of the essence 
of that faith whereby we are justified and saved ; and 
that many precious saints are without it, and subject to 
many doubts that are contrary to it ; so that they may 
not know at all that it shall go well with them at the 
day of judgment ; and that it may be sometimes inter- 
mitted, if not wholly lost after it is gotten ; and that 
we should strive to walk holily, that we may attain to 
it, because it is very useful for our growth and increase 
in faith, and in all holiness. Most Protestants among 
us, when they speak or write of assurance, mean only 
that which is by reflection. And I have said enough 
briefly to show, that what I assert, is consistent with 
the doctrine which is commonly received concerning it, 
and destructive to none of the good fruits of it ; there- 
fore not guilty of those evils that some falsely charge it 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 155 

with. This kind of assurance which I speak of answers 
not the question, Whether I am already in a state of 
grace and salvation ? There is another great question 
that the soul must answer, that it may get into a state 
of grace, Whether God be graciously pleased now to 
bestow Christ and His salvation upon me, though I 
have been hitherto a very wicked creature ? We must 
be sure to resolve this question comfortably, by another 
kind of assurance in the direct act of faith, wherein we 
are to persuade ourselves, (without reflecting upon any 
good qualifications in ourselves,) that God is ready 
graciously to receive us into the arms of His saving 
mercy in Christ, notwithstanding all our former wicked- 
ness, according to that gracious promise, " I will call 
them my people, which were not my people ; and her, 
beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to 
pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye 
are not my people, there shall they be called the chil- 
dren of the living God," Rom. ix. 25, 26. 

Secondly, The assurance referred to, is not a per- 
suasion of our salvation, whatever we do, or however 
we live and walk ; but only in a limited way, through 
mere free grace in Christ, try partaking of holiness as 
well as forgiveness, and by walking in the way of holi- 
ness to the enjoyment of the glory of God. We shall 
not heartily desire or endeavor to assure ourselves of 
such a salvation as this is, if we be not brought first to 
see our own sinfulness and misery, and to despair of 
our own righteousness and strength, and to hunger and 
thirst for the sanctifying as well as justifying grace of 
God in Christ ; that so we may walk in the ways of 
holiness to the enjoyment of heavenly glory. The faith 
whereby we receive Christ, must have in it, not only a 
persuasion of happiness, but these, and the like good 
qualifications, that will make it a most holy faith. Cer- 
tainly an assurance thus qualified, will not beget any 
pride in us, but rather humility and self-loathing, ex- 
cept any account it pride, to rejoice and glory in Christ, 



156 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

when we have no confidence in the flesh, Phil. iii. 3. 
It will not destroy religious fear, and excite carnal se- 
curity , but rather it will make us fear going aside from 
Christ our only refuge and security, and walking after 
the flesh. Noah had cause to enter into the ark, and 
to abide there, with assurance of his preservation ; yet 
he might well be afraid to venture out of the ark, be- 
cause he was persuaded, that continuance in the ark 
was his only safety from perishing in the flood. And 
how can a persuasion of salvation in a way of holiness, 
produce slothfulness in duty, carelessness, and licen- 
tiousness ? It rather mightily allures, and stirs us up 
to " be always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
forasmuch as we know, that our labor shall not be 
in vain in the Lord," 1 Cor. xv. 58. They that 
are persuaded of the free grace of God toward them in 
Christ, are not indeed solicitous about earning their 
salvation by their own legal works. And Satan is 
ready to suggest to them, that this is a sinful careless- 
ness, and tends to licentiousness. But they that will 
believe this false suggestion of Satan, show plainly, that 
they do not know what it is to serve God in love, and 
that they are held in, to all their obedience, by the bit 
and bridle of slavish fear, "as the horse and mule, that 
have no understanding," Psal. xxxii. 9. 

Thirdly, Beware of thinking so highly of this as- 
surance, as if it were inconsistent with any doubting in 
the same soul. A great reason why many Protestants 
have receded from the doctrine of their ancestors in 
this point, is, because they think there can be no true 
assurance of salvation in any that are troubled with 
doubts, as they may find many are, whom they cannot 
but own as true believers, and precious saints of God. 
True, indeed, this assurance must, in the nature of it, 
be contrary to doubting ; and so, if it were perfect in 
the highest decree, it would exclude all doubting out 
of the soul, and it does now exclude it in some degree. 
But is there not flesh as well as spirit in ti. ' best saints 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 157 

on earth? Gal. v. 17. Is there not "a law in their 
members warring against the law of their minds ?" 
Rom. vii. 23. May not one that truly believes, say, 
" Lord help my unbelief ?" Mark ix. 24. Can any on 
earth say, they have received any grace in the highest 
degree, and that they are wholly free from the contrary 
corruption? Why then should we think, that as- 
surance cannot be true, except it be perfect, and free 
the soul from all doubts ? The Apostle accounts it a 
great blessing to the Thessalonians, that they had much 
assurance ; intimating, that some true assurance might 
be in a less degree, 1 Thess. i. 5. Peter had some good 
assurance of Christ's help, when he walked on the 
water at Christ's command ; and yet he had some 
doubtfulness in him, as his fear showed when he saw 
the wind boisterous. He had some faith contrary to 
doubting, though it were but little, as Christ's words 
to him show : " thou of little faith, wherefore didst 
thou doubt?" Matt. xiv. 29, 30, 31. 

It is strange, if the flesh and the devil shall never op- 
pose a true assurance, and assault it with doubts. A be- 
liever may be sometimes so overwhelmed with doubts, 
that he may not be able to perceive an assurance in 
himself. He is so far from knowing his place in heaven 
already, (as some scoffingly object,) that he will say, 
that he knows not any assurance that he has of being 
there, and needs diligent self-examination to find it out. 
Yet, if at that time he can blame his soul for doubt- 
ing, " Why art thou cast down, my soul ? and why 
art thou disquieted within me ? hope thou in God ; for 
I shall yet praise Him," Ps. xlii. 11 ; if he can con- 
demn his doubting, as sinful, and say with himself, 
" This is my infirmity," Ps. lxxvii. 10, these doubts 
are of the flesh, and of the devil ; if he still endeavor 
to call God, Father, and complain to Him, that he 
doubts whether he be his Father, and pray, that God 
will give him the assurance of his fatherly love, which 
he is not sensible of, and dispel those fears and doubts ; 
14 



158 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

I say, that such a one has some true assurance, though 
he must strive to grow to a higher degree : for if he 
were not persuaded of the. truth of the love of God 
towards him, he could not rationally condemn his fears 
and doubts concerning it as sinful ; neither could he 
rationally pray to God as his father, or that God 
would assure him of that love that he does not think 
to be true. 

Do but grant that it is the nature of saving faith, 
thus to resist and struggle with slavish fears of wrath, 
and doubts of our own salvation, and you grant, in ef- 
fect, that there is, and must be something of assurance 
of our salvation in saving faith, whereby it resists 
doubts ; and you are, in effect, of the same judgment 
with me in the assertion, however strange my expres- 
sion seems to you. If this that I have said concerning 
our imperfection in assurance, as well as in other graces, 
were well considered, this ancient protest ant doctrine 
would be freed much from prejudice, and gain more 
esteem among* us. 

Fourthly, In the last place, let it be well observed, 
that the reason why we are to assure ourselves in our 
faith, that God freely gives Christ and salvation to us 
particularly, is not, because it is a truth before we be- 
lieve it, but because it becomes a certain truth when 
we believe it, and because it will never be true, except 
we do, in some measure, persuade and assure ourselves 
that it is so. We have no absolute promise or declara- 
tion in Scripture, that God certainly will or does give 
Christ and His salvation to any one of us in particular ; 
neither do we know it to be true already, by Scripture, 
or sense, or reason, before we assure ourselves abso- 
lutely of it ; yea, we are without Christ's salvation at 
present, in a state of sin and misery, under the curse 
and wrath of God. Only I shall prove that we are 
bound by the command of God, thus to assure our- 
selves ; and the Scripture sufficiently warrants us, that 
we should not deceive ourselves in believing a lie ; but 






I.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 159 

according to our faith, so shall it be to us, Matt. ix. 29. 
This is a strange kind of assurance, far different from 
other ordinary kinds ; and therefore no wonder if it be 
found weak and imperfect, and difficult to be obtained, 
and assaulted with many doubts. We are constrained 
to believe other things on the clear evidence we have 
that they are true, and would remain true, whether we 
believe them or not ; so that we cannot deny our as- 
sent, without rebelling against the light of our senses, 
reason, and conscience. But here our assurance is not 
impressed on our thoughts by any evidence of the 
thing ; but we must work it out in ourselves by the 
assistance of the* Spirit of God, and thereby we bring 
our own thoughts into captivity to the obedience of 
Christ. None but God can justly require of us this 
kind of assurance, because He only "calleth those 
things that are not, as though they were," Rom. iv. 17. 
He only can give existence to things that yet, are not, 
and make a thing to be true upon our believing it, that 
was not true before. He only can make good that 
promise, "What things soever ye desire when ye pray, 
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them," 
Mark xi. 24. " Who is he that saith and it cometh to 
pass, when the Lord commandeth it not !" Lam. iii. 37. 
Therefore this faith is due to God only, and greatly re- 
dounds to His glory. Men will often require a believ- 
ing something like it ; as, when one says, " I will for- 
give your offence, and be your friend, if I can find that 
you believe it, and that you take me for a friend. " But 
their fallible word is not sufficient ground to make us 
persuade ourselves absolutely, that we shall have their 
promised favor. The faith of miracles gives us some 
light in this matter. Christ assured them on whom 
they were wrought, and who had power given them of 
working them, that the miracles should be wrought, if 
they believed without doubting of the event, Mark xi. 
22, 23. And there is a reason for this resemblance; 
because the end of working miracles was, to confirm 



160 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

the doctrine of the gospel of salvation by faith in 
Christ's name, as the Scriptures clearly show ; and, in- 
deed, the salvation of a .sinner is a very great miracle. 
It is reported, that wizards often require that those who 
come to them should believe they shall obtain what 
they desire of them, or at least that they are able to 
fulfil their desires ; whereby the devil, the master of 
those wizards, shows himself to be God's ape, and 
that he would fain have that honor and glory ascribed 
to himself that is due to God alone. 

Having thus explained the nature of that assurance 
which I have referred to, I shall now 5 produce several 
arguments to prove, that there is, and must necessarily 
be, such an assurance or persuasion of our salvation in 
saving faith itself. 

Fifthly, This assurance of salvation is implied in the 
description before given of that faith whereby we re- 
ceive Christ, and His salvation, into our heart. I de- 
scribe faith to be a grace of the Spirit, whereby we 
heartity believe the Gospel, and also believe on Christ, 
as He is revealed and freely promised to us therein, for 
all His salvation. And I showed, in the explanation, 
that believing on Christ is the same with resting, rely- 
ing, leaning, staying ourselves on Christ, or on God 
through Christ, for our salvation. It may be, some will 
like that description the better, because faith was there 
described by terms that are ordinarily used, even by 
those that deny the necessity of assurance ; but these 
ordinary terms sufficiently include assurance in the na 
ture of faith, and they cannot stand without it. And 
this shows, that many hold the doctrine of assurance 
implicitly, and profess it, though they think the con- 
trary. 

Believing on Christ for salvation, as freely promised 
to us, must needs include a dependence on Christ, with 
a persuasion that salvation shall be freely given, as it is 



X.] OF 8 ANCTIFI CATION. 161 

freely promised to us. Believing with a divine faith, 
grounded on the infallible truth of the promise, if it 
did not in some measure exclude a mere suspense and 
wavering opinion or conjecture, were not worthy to be 
so called. Some may be so absurd as to say, that 
faith is only a believing that we shall be saved by 
Christ, if we perform such conditions as He requires ; 
and then, indeed, it will leave us where it found us, as 
to any certainty of salvation, until those conditions be 
performed. But I have already prevented such an ab- 
surdity, by showing that this believing on Christ, is, 
itself, not only the condition of our salvation, but also 
the instrument whereby we actually receive it. Be- 
ieving, being the proper act of faith, must needs have 
the same contraries to it ; as staggering, Rom. iv. 20 ; 
wavering, Heb. x. 23 ; doubting, Matt. xiv. 31 ; fear, 
Mark v. 36. These contraries clearly illustrate the na- 
ture of faith ; and show, that believing must have some 
confidence in it, else it would have doubting in the very 
nature of it : for what man that understands the pre- 
ciousness of his immortal soul, and his danger of losing 
it, can ever avoid fear, doubting, and trouble of heart, 
by any believing, whereby he does not at all assure 
himself of his salvation ? The other terms of trusting 
and resting on Jesus Christ, &c, whereby faith is often 
described by orthodox teachers, must include assurance 
of salvation, because they signify the same thing with 
believing on Christ. The soul must have its sufficient 
support, to bear it up against oppressing fears, troubles, 
cares, despair, that it may thus trust and rest. The 
right mariner of trusting and hoping in the Lord, is, 
by assuring ourselves, against all fears and doubts, that 
" the Lord is our God, and he is become our salvation. 
I trusted on thee, Lord : I said, thou art my God," 
Ps. xxxi. 14. "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, 
and my deliverer ; my God, my strength, in whom I 
will trust," Ps. xviii. 2. " Behold, God is my salvation ; 
I will trust, and not be afraid," Isa. xii. 2. " O my soul, 
14* 



162 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

hope thou in God, who is the health of my counte- 
nance, and my God," Ps. xlii. 11. True hope is 
grounded in God only, that He will bless us, that He 
may be an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast, 
Heb. vi. 17, 18, 19. If you trust, rely and stay your- 
selves on Christ, or hope in Him, without assuring 
yourselves at all of salvation by Him, you make no 
better use of Him, than if He were a broken reed ; 
and, if you would stay yourselves on the Lord, you 
must look upon Him as your God; as the prophet 
teaches, Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and 
stay upon his God, Isa. 1. 10. If you will rest in the 
Lord, you must believe that He deals bountifully with 
you, Ps. cxvi. 7 ; or else, for aught you know, you 
may make your bed in hell. And you will show little 
regard to Christ, and to your own soul, if you dare to 
rest under the wrath of God, without any persuasion 
of a sure interest in Christ. People may please them- 
selves with such a trusting or resting, &c, when they 
are at ease ; but, in time of temptation, it vanishes 
away, and appears to be no true faith, but is turned 
into shame. The soul that lives in such wavering and 
doubting concerning salvation, does not stay itself nor 
rest at all, but is "like a wave of the sea, driven with 
the wind, and tossed ; he is a double-minded man, un- 
stable in all his ways," James i. 6, 8. If you continue 
in mere suspense and doubt of salvation by Christ, 
your desire to trust is but a lazy desire, without any 
fixed resolution, and you dare not yet venture to trust on 
Him steadfastly. If you call it only your desire to trust 
and rely on Jesus Christ, I may answer, that you can- 
not do this much in a right manner, except you desire 
and venture to persuade and assure yourselves of your 
salvation by Christ, notwithstanding all the causes that 
you have to doubt and fear the contrary. If it be ob- 
jected, that we may trust on Christ only as a sufficient 
means of salvation, without any assurance of the effect, 
I shall acknowledge that the sufficiency of God and 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 163 

Christ is a good ground for us to rest on ; I it we must 
understand by it, not only a sufficiency of power, but 
also of good -will and mercy towards us ; for what 
have we more than fallen angels to do with the suffi- 
ciency of God, and Christ's power, without His good- 
will toward us ? And, if this be truly believed, it will 
exclude doubts concerning your salvation. 

Secondly, Several places of Scripture declare posi- 
tively and expressly, that we are to be assured of our 
salvation in that faith whereby we are justified and 
saved. I shall produce some instances. We are ex- 
horted to "drawne*ar to God with full assurance of 
faith," Heb. x. 22. Many apply this text to that 
which they call the reflex act of faith, because they 
imagine that all assurance must needs be by reflection. 
But the words of the text clearly teach us to under- 
stand it of that act of faith whereby we draw near tc 
God, that is, the direct act ; and it is that very faith 
whereby the just live, even justifying, saving faith, ver. 
38. And this assurance must be full, at least, in the 
true and proper nature of it, in opposition to mere 
doubt and uncertainty, though we are yet further to 
labor for that which is full in the highest degree of per- 
fection. And the same faith whereby we are exhorted 
to draw nigh unto God, and whereby the just lives, is, 
a little after, chap. xi. 1, affirmed to be " the substance 
of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not 
seen." Why should saving faith have these high titles 
and attributes given to it, if it did not contain in it a sure 
persuasion of the great things of our salvation hoped 
for, making them evident to the eyes of our mind, as if 
they were already present in their substance, though 
yet not visible to our bodily eyes ? That faith whereby 
we are made partakers of Christ, and to be Christ's 
house, must be worthy to be called confidence, and ac- 
companied with rejoicing hope : " Whose house are 
we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the 
hope firm unto the end." Heb. iii. 6, 14. What is 



164 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

confidence concerning anything but trust concerning 
it, with a firm persuasion of the truth of it? If we 
have only a strong opinion concerning a thing, without 
any absolute certainty, we are accustomed to say that 
we are not altogether confident of it. The faith 
whereby we are justified, must be in a measure like to 
the faith whereby Abraham " against hope believed in 
hope, that his seed should certainly be multiplied ac- 
cording to the promise of God ; though, by reason of 
the deadness of his own body, and of Sarah's womb," 
he could have no evidence from his own qualifications 
to assure himself of it ; but all appearances were 
rather to the contrary, as the Apostle teaches clearly, 
Rom. iv. 18, 19, 23, 24. As absolute as this promise 
was thus made to Abraham, yet it was not to be ful- 
filled without this assurance of faith, and, by the like 
faith, the free promises of salvation by Christ, will be 
absolutely fulfilled to us. The apostle James expressly 
requires that we should ask good things of God in 
faith, nothing doubting, which includes assurance mani- 
festly : and he tells us plainly, that without it a man 
ought not to think that he shall receive anything of the 
Lord. Therefore, we may firmly conclude, that without 
it we shall not receive the salvation of Christ, James i. 
6, 7. And that which the apostle James requires us 
not to doubt of, is the obtaining the things that we 
ask ; as we may learn from an instruction to the same 
purpose given us by Christ himself, " What things 
soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
them, and ye shall have them," Mark xi. 24. More 
place-s of Scripture might be alleged to the same pur- 
pose, but these are sufficient to evince that we are 
bound to assure ourselves of our salvation in faith it- 
self, or else we are never likely to enjoy it ; and that it 
is not humility, but rather proud disobedience to live 
in a state of mere suspense and doubt concerning our 
salvation ; and that this assurance must be in the direct 
act of faith whereby we are justified and saved. For, 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 165 

as for that which is called the reflex act of faith, it is a 
certain truth, and generally owned, that it is not abso- 
lutely necessary to salvation to any ; and that it is sinful 
and pernicious to many to believe, that they are already 
entered into a state of grace and salvation. 

Thirdly, God gives us sufficient ground in Scrip- 
ture to come to Christ with confident faith, at the very 
first; trusting assuredly, that Christ and His salvation 
shall be given to us without any failing and delay, 
however vile and sinful our condition has been hitherto. 
The Scripture speaks to the vilest sinners in such a 
manner as if it were framed on purpose to beget assur- 
ance of salvation in them immediately, Acts ii. 39, and 
chap. iii. 26. This promise is universal, that "whoso- 
ever believe th on Christ, shall not be ashamed,'' with- 
out making a difference between Jew and Greek, Rom. 
x. 11, 12. And this promise is confirmed by the blood 
of Christ, who was given for the world, and lifted up 
upon the cross for this very end, that " whosoever be- 
lieveth on Him, should not perish, but have everlasting 
life," John iii. 14, 15, 16. His invitation is free to any. 
" If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink ;" 
and this drink is promised to every one that believeth, 
John vii. 37, 39. The command of believing is pro- 
pounded, not only in general, but in particular ; and 
the promise of salvation upon believing, is also applied 
personally, and that to such as have been hitherto in a 
state of sin and wrath ; as to the wicked, persecuting, 
self-murdering jailer, Acts xvi. 31. "Believe on the 
Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, and thine house." 
God commanded them that walked altogether in sin 
hitherto, to call him their own Father, in their very 
first returning, Jer. iii. 4 ; so, Hos. ii. 25. God says, 
He " will say, Thou art my people ; and they shall say, 
Thou art my God;" confidently averring that personal 
interest in Him. God hath joined confidence and sal- 
vation inseparably together: "In returning and rest 
shall ye be saved ; in quietness and in confidence shall 



166 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

be your strength, " Isa. xxx. 15. What a poor, slender 
use and improvement do many make of these discov- 
eries of the rich grace of God toward sinners, who 
say, that, if we see that we have performed the condi- 
tion of believing, then we may take Christ confidently 
as our own ? They skip over the first principal use 
they ought to make of them. The very performance 
of the condition is, to take Christ as our own immedi- 
ately, and to eat him and drink him, by believing con- 
fidently on Him for our salvation. If an honest rich 
man say to a poor woman, " I promise to be thy hus- 
band if thou wilt have me ; say but the word, and I 
am thine ;" may not she presently answer confidently, 
u Thou art my husband, and I claim thee for my hus- 
band ?" And should she not rather say so, than say, 
" I believe not what thou sayest ?" If an honest man 
say, " Do but take this gift, and it is your own ; do but 
eat and drink, and you are freely welcome ;" may not I 
take the gift, and eat and drink at first, without any 
further ado, and with assurance that it is mine freely ? 
If I do it doubtingly, I disparage the honesty and 
credit of the donor, as if he were not a man of his 
word. In like manner, if fearing to be too confident, 
lest we should believe a lie, we should come to Christ 
doubtingly, and in mere suspense, whether we shall be 
freely entertained, after all God's free invitations and 
promises, should we not disparage the faithfulness of 
God ? And should we not be guilty of making God 
a liar ? As the apostle John teaches, because of our 
not believing the record which God gave of his Son : 
"And this is the record, that God hath given to us 
eternal life ; and this life is in his Son," 1 John v. 10, 
11. And what if the salvation promised, be not ab- 
solutely intended for all to whom the Gospel comes ? 
It is enough that God gives us his faithful word, that 
they that believe shall have it, and none else; and has 
absolutely intended to fulfil His word that none shall 
find it to be a lie to them, and has joined believing and 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 167 

salvation inseparably together. On this ground God 
may justly cause the promise of this salvation to be 
published to all, and may justly require all to believe 
on Him assuredly for their own salvation, that so il may 
appear whether they will give him the glory of His truth: 
and, if they will not, He may justly reject them, and 
punish them severely for dishonoring Him by their un- 
belief. In this case, we must not look to the secret 
decrees of God, but to His revealed promises and com- 
mand. Thus God promised to the Israelites in the 
wilderness, that He would give them the land of Canaan, 
and would fight for them against their enemies : and 
required them not to fear or be discouraged, that so 
the promise might be fulfilled to them ; yet God never 
absolutely decreed or intended, that those Israelites 
should enter in ; as the event quickly manifested, Deut. 
i. 20, 21, 29, 30. Yet were they not bound in this 
case to trust confidently in God, to give them victory 
over their enemies, and to give them the possession of 
the land ? had they not sufficient ground for such a 
faith ? was it not just with God to consume them in 
the wilderness for their unbelief ? " Let us therefore 
fear, lest a promise being made of entering into this 
everlasting rest through Christ, we should come short 
of it, and fall after the same example of unbelief/' Heb. 
iv. 1, 11. 

Fourthly , The professors of true godliness, that we 
read of through the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testament, commonly professed their assurance and 
persuasion of their interest in God and His salvation, 
and were directed by the word of God so to do ; and 
true saints had still some true assurance of it. And we 
have no cause to judge, that this assurance was ground- 
ed on the certainty of their own good qualifications, 
but rather on the promises of God by the direct act 
of faith. We may judge of the ordinary profession of 
the frame of spirit that was in saints, by some instances. 
I shall begin with the profession that the Church made 



168 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

when it was very corrupt, at its first coming out of 
Egypt, when few of them could assure themselves, by 
their own good qualifications, that they were in a state 
of grace already ; which many now imagine to be the 
only way of assurance. 

Even in that corrupt time, the children of Israel 
sung that triumphant song of Moses, " The Lord is my 
strength and my song, and He is become my salvation : 
He is my God, &c." Exod. xv. 2. Moses taught them 
in this song, to assure themselves of their own personal 
interest in the salvation ; and he guided them to the 
practice of their duty. And they did not find fault 
with Moses, as some do with ministers in these days, 
for putting them to express more confidence in their 
song, than they can find ground for from their qualifi- 
cations ; but they applied themselves to the exercise of 
their faith, agreeably to the song: and, doubtless, this 
faith was unfeigned in some few of them, though but 
feigned in others ; for it is testified of them, that then 
they believed His words, they sang His praise, Psal. cvi. 
12. Several other psalms and songs that were by 
divine appointment in common use under the Old Tes- 
tament, are as clear an evidence as we can desire, of 
that assurance of faith which is commonly professed, 
and that people were generally bound to, under the 
Old Testament ; as Psal. xxiii. xxvii. xliv. and xlvi. 
Many other psalms, or expressions in psalms might be 
alleged. The spirits of few, in comparison, could have 
thoroughly complied with such psalms, though they 
were true believers, if all the assurance of the love of 
God must altogether depend upon the certain knowl- 
edge of the sincerity of their own hearts. We have a 
great cloud of witnesses gathered out of the whole his- 
tory of the Old Testament, Heb. xi., who did, and suf- 
fered, and obtained great things by faith ; whose ex- 
amples are produced on purpose that we may follow 
them in believing, to the saving of our souls, Heb. x. 
39. And, if we consider these examples particularly, 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 169 

we shall find, that many of them evidently guide us tc 
such a saving faith as has an assurance of the effect 
contained in the nature of it. I confess, we read several 
times of the fears and doubts of the saints under the 
Old Testament ; but we read also how their faith op- 
posed such fears and doubts, and how they themselves 
condemned them as contrary to faith, as in the Psalms ; 
Ps. xlii. 11, xxxi. 22, and lxxvii. 1, 10. The most mourn- 
ful psalm in Scripture begins with an expression of some 
assurance, Psal. Ixxxviii. 1. And we may note, that 
the doubts that we meet with of the saints of old, were 
commonly occasioned by some extraordinary affliction, 
or some heinous transgression ; not by common failings, 
or the common original depravation of nature, or the 
uncertainty of their election, or any thought that it is 
humility to doubt, and that they were not bound to be 
confident of God's salvation, because then many might 
be bound to believe a lie. It is hard to find any of 
these occasions of doubting under the Old Testament, 
though they are grown so rife among us now under the 
New Testament. 

In the time of the apostles, we may well expect that 
the assurance of faith grew higher, because the salva- 
tion of Christ was revealed, and the Spirit of adoption 
poured forth plentifully, and the Church made free 
from its former bondage under the terrifying legal cov- 
enant. Paul could prove to primitive Christians, by 
appeals to their own experience, that they were the 
11 children and heirs of God, because they had not re- 
ceived the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit 
of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father. The 
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits," (or " bear- 
eth our spirits witness/ 7 as the Syriac and vulgar Latin 
render it, and as the like Greek phrase is rendered, 
Rom. ix. 1 :) " that we are the children of God, and, 
if children, then heirs," Rom. viii. 15, 16, 17 ; Gal. iv. 
6. And the Apostle tells the Ephesians, that, after 
they believed, " they were sealed with the Holy Spirit, 

15 



170 THE GOSPEL- MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

which was the earnest of their inheritance," Eph. i. 13, 
14, that is, they were sealed from the same time that 
they believed ; for the original words are in the same 
tense. If this witness, seal, and earnest of the Spirit 
had not been ordinary to believers, it would not have 
been sufficient to prove, that they were the children of 
God ; and such manner of arguing might have driven 
some to despair, who wanted this witness, seal, and 
earnest. 

Let us inquire now, whether the Spirit bears witness 
that we are the children of God, and enables us to cry, 
Abba, Father, by the direct act, or by that which they 
call the reflex act of faith ? For we must not think 
that it is done by an enthusiasm, without any ordinary 
means ; nor can we reasonably imagine, that no true 
believers can call God Father, by the guidance of the 
Spirit, but only those few that are so sure of their own 
sincerity, that by reflecting upon it, they can ground 
an act of faith concerning their own interest in Christ : 
no, surely. Therefore we may judge rather, that the 
Spirit works this in us, by giving us saving faith itself, 
by the direct act of which all true believers are enabled 
to trust assuredly on Christ for the enjoyment of the 
adoption of children, and all His salvation, according to 
the free promise of God ; and to call God Father, with- 
out reflecting on any good qualifications in themselves ; 
for the Spirit is received by the direct act of faith, Gal. 
iii. 2, and so He is the Spirit of adoption, and comfort, 
to all that receive Him. They who assert, that the 
Spirit witnesses our adoption, only by assuring us of 
the sincerity of our faith, love, and other gracious quali- 
fications, and by the reflex act of faith, teach also com- 
monly, that you must again try, whether the spirit thus 
witnessing, be the Spirit of truth, or of delusion, by 
searching narrowly, whether our inward grace be sin- 
cere or counterfeit : so that hereby the testimony of 
the Spirit is rendered so hard to be discerned, that it 
stands us in no stead, but all our assurance is made at 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. l7l 

last to depend on our own certain knowledge of our own 
sincerity. There are several other evidences to show, 
that believers generally were persuaded of their salva- 
tion in the apostles' times. They loved and waited 
for the coming of Christ to judge the world, 1 Cor. i. 
*1 ; 2 Tim. iv. 8. They loved all the saints for the hope 
that was laid up for them in heaven, Col. i. 3, 4, 5. 
The Corinthians, who were very carnal, and but babes 
in Christ, were persuaded that they should judge the 
world, and angels, and that their bodies were members 
of Christ, and the temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 
vi. 2, 3, 15, 19. The very first coming of the Gospel 
to the Thessalonians, was in the Holy Ghost, and much 
assurance; so that they received it in much affliction, 
with joy of the Holy Ghost ; when as yet they had no 
considerable time to get assurance, by reflecting on 
their good qualifications, 1 Thess. i. 5, 6. Likewise, 
the believing Hebrews, when they were illuminated at 
their first conversion, " took joyfully the spoiling of 
their goods, knowing that they had in heaven a better 
and an enduring substance ;" and this was their confi- 
dence, which they were not to cast off, because the just 
lives by faith. And therefore it appears, that this con- 
fidence belongs necessarily to justifying, saving faith, 
Heb. x. 32, 34, 35, 38. 

Now, let those that allege the examples or experien- 
ces of many modern Christians to disprove all that I 
have asserted, consider well whether these are fit to be 
laid in the balance against all the Scripture examples 
and experience that I have produced out of the Old 
and New Testament. I confess that assurance of sal- 
vation is more rarely professed by Christians in these 
times than formerly ; and we may thank some teachers for 
it who have deserted the doctrine of former Protestants 
on this point, and vented against it several errors, such 
as have been already named ; and now would take ad- 
vantage to confirm the truth of their doctrines from 
those doubtings in Christians, that have been chiefly 



172 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

occasioned by it. But, however, the nature of saving 
faith is still the same. And I assert, that, in these 
days, as well as formerly, it always has in it some as- 
surance of salvation by Christ, which does and will ap- 
pear, at least in resisting and condemning all doubts and 
praying against them, and endeavoring to trust assur- 
edly, and to call God, Father ; except in extraordinary 
desertions, by which our case must not be tried. We 
are not to trust the judgment of many concerning 
themselves. They will judge falsely, that they have 
no assurance at all, because they know not yet, by 
marks and signs, that they are in a state of grace al- 
ready, or because they think that there is no assurance 
when there are many doubts, and because it is so weak, 
and so much oppressed with doubting, that it can 
hardly be discerned, as life in a fainting fit. But, if 
their judgments be better informed, they may be 
brought to discern some assurance in themselves. We 
are also to take heed of mistaking those for true be- 
lievers who are not so, and of judging this point by 
their experience, which is a vulgar error. The blind 
charity of some moves them to take all for true be- 
lievers who are full of doubts and troubles concerning 
their salvation, though it may be they only are convinced 
of sin, and brought to some zeal of God, that is not ac- 
cording to the knowledge of the way of salvation by 
Christ ; and they think it duty to comfort such igno- 
rant persons, by persuading them, that their state is 
good, and their faith right, though they have no assur- 
ance of salvation. Thus they are brought to judge 
falsely concerning the nature of faith, out of their blind 
charity to such as are yet in ignorance and unbelief; 
and, instead of comforting such, they rather take the 
direct way to harden them in their natural state, and to 
divert them from seeking consolation by saving faith in 
Christ, and to ruin their souls forever. 

Fifthly, The chief office of this faith, in its direct 
saving act is, to receive Christ and His salvation actu- 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 173 

ally into our hearts, as has been proved ; which office 
cannot be rationally performed, except we, in some 
measure, persuade our hearts, and assure ourselves 
in the enjoyment of Him. As the body receives 
things into itself by the hands and mouth ; so the soul 
receives these things to itself, and lays actual hold on 
them, by the faculty of the will, making choice of them, 
and embracing them in a way of present enjoyment and 
possession, as, by the faculty of the understanding, it 
sees and apprehends them. Thus the soul receives 
comfort from outward things ; as a righteous person 
cannot receive inward comfort from outward things, as 
from worldly estate, wife, husband, friends, &c, except 
he choose them as good, and account them his own 
by a right and title. This is the only rational way 
whereby the soul can actively lay hold on Christ, and 
take actual possession of Him, and his salvation, as he 
.s freely offered and promised to us in the Gospel, by 
the grace of faith, which God has appointed to be our 
great instrument for the receiving of Him, and closing 
with Him. If we do not make choice of Christ, as our 
only salvation and happiness, or if we be altogether in 
a state of suspense and doubt, whether God will be 
pleased to give Christ to us or not, it is evident, that 
our souls are quite loose from Christ, and have no 
hold or enjoyment of Him. They do not so much 
as pretend to any actual receiving or laying hold 
or choosing of Him, neither are they fully satisfied that 
it is lawful for them so to do ; but rather they are yet 
to seek, whether they have any good ground and right 
to lay hold on Him. Let any rational man judge, 
whether the soul does, or can put forth any suffi- 
cient act, for the reception and enjoyment of Christ, as 
its Saviour, Head, or Husband, while it is yet in doubt 
whether it be the will of Christ to be joined with it in 
such a near relation ? Can a woman honestly receive 
any one as her husband, without being assured that he 
is fully willing to be her husband ? The same may be 

15* 



174 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERV [DIRECT. 

said concerning the several parts of Christ's salvation, 
which are to be received by faith. It is evident that 
we do not receive aright the benefit of remission of 
sins, for the purging of our consciences from that 
guilt that lies upon them, unless we have an as- 
sured persuasion of God's forgiving them. We do 
not actually receive into our hearts our reconciliation 
with God, and adoption of children, and the title to 
an everlasting inheritance, until we can assure our- 
selves, that God is graciously pleased to be our God 
and Father, and to take us to be his children and heirs. 
We do not actually receive any sufficient strength to 
encourage our hearts to holiness in all difficulties, until 
we can steadfastly believe that God is with us, and will 
not fail nor forsake us. 

Hence, then, we may firmly conclude, that he who 
seeks to be saved by faith, and does not seek to have 
assurance or confidence of his own salvation, does but 
deceive himself, and delude his soul with a mere fancy 
instead of saving faith, and in effect, seeks to be saved 
in his corrupt natural state, without receiving, and laying 
actual hold of the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation. 

Sixthly, It is also a great and necessary office of 
saving faith, to purify the heart, and to enable us to 
live and walk in the practice of all holy duties, by the 
grace of Christ, and by Christ himself living in us, as 
has been showed before : which office faith is not able 
to perform, except some assurance of our own interest 
in Christ and His salvation be comprehended in the na- 
ture of it. If we would live to God, not ourselves, 
but by Christ living in us, according to Paul's exam- 
ple, we must be able to assure ourselves as he did, 
" Christ loved me and gave himself for me," Gal. ii. 20. 
" We are taught, that, if we live in the Spirit, we 
should walk in the Spirit," Gal. v. 25. It would be 
high presumption if we should endeavor to walk above 
our natural strength and power by the Spirit, before 
we have made sure of our living by the Spirit. I 






X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 175 

have showed that we cannot make use of the comforta- 
ble benefits of the saving grace of Christ, whereby 
the Gospel engages and encourages us to a holy prac- 
tice, except we have some confidence of our own inter- 
est in those saving benefits. If we do not assuredly 
believe, that we are dead to sin, and alive to God 
through Christ, and risen with Christ, and not under 
the law, but under grace, and members of Christ's body, 
the temple of his Spirit, the dear children of God, it 
would be hypocrisy to serve God upon the account of 
such privileges as if we reckoned ourselves to be par- 
takers of them. 

He that thinks he should doubt of his salvation, is 
not a fit disciple for this manner of doctrine ; and he 
may reply to the preachers of the Gospel ; " If you 
would bring me to holiness, you must make use of other 
more effectual arguments ; for I cannot practise upon 
these principles, because I have not faith enough to 
believe that I have any interest in them. Some argu- 
ments, taken from the justice and wrath of God against 
sinners, and His mercy toward those that perform the 
condition of sincere obedience, would work more pow- 
erfully upon me." what a miserable, worthless kind 
of saving faith is this, that cannot fit a believer to prac- 
tise in a gospel manner, upon the most pure and pow- 
erful principles of grace, but rather leaves him to work 
upon legal principles, which can never bring him to 
serve God acceptably out of love ! And as such a faith 
fails wholly in the right manner of obeying upon gos- 
pel principles, so it fails also in the very matter of some 
great duties, which are of such a nature, that they in- 
clude assurance of God's love in the right performance 
of them ; such are those great duties of peace with 
God, rejoicing in the Lord always ; hope that maketh 
not ashamed ; owning the Lord as our God and our 
Saviour ; praying to Him as our Father in heaven ; of- 
fering up body and soul as an acceptable sacrifice to 
him ; casting all our cares of body and soul upon him ; 



176 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

contentment and hearty thanksgiving in every condi- 
tion ; making our boast in the Lord ; triumphing in his 
praise ; rejoicing in tribulation ; putting on Christ in 
our baptism ; receiving Christ's body as broken for us, 
and his blood as shed for us in the Lord's Supper ; 
committing our souls willingly to God as our Redeemer 
whenever He shall be pleased to call for us ; loving 
Christ's second appearance, and looking for it as that 
blessed hope. When we fall into any sudden doubt 
whether we are in a state of grace already ; when we 
are called to any present undertaking, as to partake of 
the Lord's Supper, or any duty that requires assurance 
to the right performance of it ; we must relieve our- 
selves, by trusting confidently in Christ for the present 
gift of His salvation, or else we shall be driven to omit 
the duty, or not to perform it rightly or sincerely. Can 
we judge ourselves already in a state of grace, by the 
reflex act of faith, if we do not find, that we perform 
these duties, at least several of them, sincerely ; or, if 
we do not find, that we have such a holy faith as en- 
ables or inclines us to the performance of them ? And 
can we be thus enabled and inclined by any faith that 
is without some true assurance of our salvation? 
Therefore I conclude, that we must necessarily have 
some assurance of our salvation in the direct act of 
faith, whereby we are justified, sanctified, and saved, 
before we can, upon any good ground, assure ourselves, 
that we are already in a state of grace, by that which 
they call the reflex act. Give me such a saving faith 
as will produce such fruits as these. No other faith 
will work by love ; and therefore will not avail to sal- 
vation in Christ, Gal. v. 6. The apostle James puts 
thee upon showing thy faith by thy works, James ii. 
18. And, in this trial, this faith of assurance comes 
off with high praise and honor. When God called his 
people to work outward miracles by it, all things have 
been possible to them ' and it has frequently brought 
forth such works of righteousness, as may be deservedly 



X.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 177 

esteemed great spiritual miracles. From hence has 
proceeded that heroic fortitude of the people of God, 
whereby their absolute obedience to God has shone 
forth in doing and suffering those great things which 
are recorded in the holy Scriptures, and in the histories 
of the Church. And, if we be ever called to the fiery 
trial, as Protestants formerly were, we shall find theii 
doctrine of assurance will encourage us in suffering for 
the sake of Christ. 

Seventhly, The contrary doctrine, which excludes 
assurance out of the nature of saving faith, brings forth 
many evil fruits. It tends to bereave our souls of all 
assurance of our salvation, and solid comfort, which is 
the life of religion, by placing them a&er sincere uni- 
versal obedience ; whereas, if we have them not first, 
we can never attain to this obedience, nor to any assur- 
ance that depends on it, as has been proved. And 
this, as far as it prevails, makes us subject to continual 
doubts concerning our salvation, and to tormenting 
fears of wrath, which casts out true love to God, and 
can produce no better than slavish, hypocritical service. 
It is one of the principal pillars whereby manifold su- 
perstitions in Popery are supported, as their monkish 
orders, their satisfactions for sins by works of penance, 
bodily macerations, whippings, pilgrimages, indulgences, 
trusting on the merits of saints, &c. When once men 
have lost the knowledge of the right way to assure 
themselves of salvation, they will catch at any straw, 
to avoid drowning in the gulf of despair. 

This is no way to administer any solid comfort to 
the wounded spirits of those who see themselves void 
of all holiness, under the wrath and curse of God, dead 
in sin, not able so much as to think a good thought. 
You but increase their terror and anguish, if you tell 
them they must first get faith and obedience; and, 
when they find they have done that, they may persuade 
themselves, that God will receive them into his grace 
and favor. Alas ! they know that they cannot believe 



178 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

nor obey, except God assist them with his grace and 
favor. And what if they be even at the point of death, 
struggling with death's pangs, so that they have no 
time nor leisure to get good qualifications, and examine 
the goodness of them ? You must have a more speedy 
way to comfort such, by discovering to them the free 
promises of salvation to the worst of sinners by faith 
in Christ, and by exhorting them to apply those pro- 
mises, and trust on Christ confidently for remission of 
sins, holiness, and glory ; assuring them also, that God 
will help them to believe sincerely on Christ, if they 
desire it with all their hearts, and that it is their duty 
to believe, because God commands it. 

Several other evils are occasioned by the same doc- 
trine. Men are unwilling to know the worst of them- 
selves, and prone to think their qualifications better 
than they are, that they may avoid despair. Others 
please and content themselves without any assurance 
of their interest in Christ, because they think that it is 
not necessary to salvation, and that but few attain to 
it : and in this they show little love to Christ, or to 
their own souls. Some foster doubts of salvation as 
signs of humility, though they will hypocritically com- 
plain of them. Many misspend their time in poring 
upon their own hearts, to find out some evidence of 
their interest in Christ, when they should rather be 
employed in receiving Christ, and walking in Him, by a 
confident faith. 

Some are troubled with doubts, whether they should 
call God Father, and what apprehensions they should 
have of Him in prayer, and are offended at ministers, 
who, in their public prayers, use any expressions that 
the people cannot join in : as when they own God as 
their God and Father, and Christ as their Saviour : and 
upon the same account, they are offended at the public 
singing of many of David's psalms, and avoid partak- 
ing of the Lord's Supper, because they are not satis- 
fied about their interest in Christ. 



X.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 1^9 

Though true believers have some assurance of sal- 
vation in saving faith itself, yet it is much weakened 
in many by this contrary doctrine, and assaulted with 
many doubts ; and then other good qualifications must 
needs be low and weak together with it, and so ob- 
scure, that it is very hard to discern them. How hard 
a thing, then, will it be for true believers to assure them- 
selves, by the certain knowledge of their own sincerity, 
that they are in a state of grace already, which some 
say is the only assurance of faith ! Some prescribe such 
marks and signs to distinguish sincerity from hypocrisy, 
that believers cannot sufficiently try themselves by them, 
except they have more knowledge and experience than 
ordinary. 

Thus many believers walk heavily in the bitterness 
of their souls, conflicting with fears and doubts all their 
days. And this is the cause that they have so little 
courage and fervency of spirit in the ways of God, and 
that they so much mind earthly things, and are so afraid 
of sufferings and death : and, if they get some assurance 
by the reflex act of faith, they often soon lose it again 
by sins and temptations. The way to avoid these evils, 
is, to get your assurance and maintain it, and renew it 
upon all occasions by the direct act of faith, by trusting 
assuredly on the name of the Lord, and staying your- 
self upon your God, when you walk in darkness, and 
see no light in any of your own qualifications, Isa. 1. 10. 
I doubt not but the experience of choice Christians will 
bear witness to this truth. 



180 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 



DIRECTION XL 

Endeavor diligently to perform the great work of believing 
on Christ, in a right manner, without any delay, and then also 
to continue and increase in your most holy faith ; that so your 
enjoyment of Christ, union and fellowship with Him, and all 
holiness by Him, may be begun, continued, and increased in you. 



EXPLICATION. 

Having already discovered to you the powerful and 
effectual means of a holy practice, my remaining work 
is, to lead you to the actual exercise and improvement 
of them, for the immediate attainment of the end. And 
I think it may be clearly perceived by the foregoing 
directions, that faith in Christ is the duty with which 
a holy life is to begin, and by which the foundation of 
all other holy duties is laid in the soul. It is before 
sufficiently proved, that Christ himself, with all en- 
dowments necessary to enable us to a holy practice, is 
received actually into our hearts by faith. This is the 
uniting grace, whereby the Spirit of God knits the 
knot of mystical marriage between Christ and us, and 
makes us branches of that noble vine ; members of that 
body, joined to that excellent head ; living stones of 
that spiritual temple, buil't upon the precious living 
corner-stone, and sure foundation; partakers of the 
bread and drink that came down from heaven, and 
gives life to the world. This is the grace whereby 
we pass from our corrupt natural state, to a new holy 
state in Christ ; also from death in sin, to the life of 
righteousness ; and whereby we are comforted, that so 
we may be established in every good word and work. 
If we put the question, "What must we do, that we 
may work the works of God?" Christ resolves it, that 
we " believe on Him whom He hath sent," John vi. 



XI.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 18 . 

28, 29. lie puts us first upon the work of believing, 
which is the work of God by way of eminence, the work 
of works, because all other good works proceed from 
it. 

The first thing in the present direction, is, to put 
you upon the performance of this great work of believ- 
ing on Christ, and to guide you therein. For you are 
to consider distinctly four things contained in it. 

1. The First is, You are to make it your diligent 
endeavor to perform the great work of believing on 
Christ. Many make little conscience of this duty. It 
is not known by natural light, as many moral duties 
are, but only by supernatural revelation in the Gospel, 
and it is foolishness to the natural man. These are 
sometimes terrified with apprehensions of other sins, 
and will examine themselves concerning them ; and it 
may be, will write them down, to help their memories 
and devotion. But the great sin of not believing on 
Christ, is seldom thought of in their self-examinations, 
or registered in the large catalogues of their sins. And 
even those who are convinced, that believing on Christ 
is a duty necessary to salvation, neglect all diligent 
endeavors to perform it ; either because they account 
that it is a motion of the heart which may be easily 
performed at any time, without any labor or diligent 
endeavors ; or, on the contrary, because they account 
it as difficult as all the works of the law, and utterly 
impossible for them to perform by their most diligent 
endeavors, except the Spirit of God work it in them by 
His mighty power; and that, therefore, it is in vain for 
them to work, until they feel this working of the Spirit 
in their hearts ; or because they account it a duty so 
peculiar to the elect, that it would be presumption for 
them to endeavor the performance of it, until they know 
themselves to be elected to eternal life through Christ. 
I shall urge you to diligent performance of this duty, 
notwithstanding all these impediments, by the consul- 
tation, that it is worthy of our best endeavors, as ap- 

16 



182 THE GOSPEL-MASTERY [DIRECT. 

pears by the preciousness, excellency, and necessity of 
it already discovered. 

If the light of nature were not darkened in the mat- 
ters of salvation, it would show us, that we cannot of 
ourselves find out the way of salvation, and would 
condemn those that despise that revelation of the way 
of salvation that God has given us in the Gospel, de- 
clared in the Holy Scriptures. The great end of preach- 
ing the Gospel, is for the obedience of faith, Rom. i. 
5 ; that so we may be brought to Christ, and to all 
other obedience. Yea, the great end of all revealed 
doctrines in the whole Scripture, is, to " make us wise 
unto salvation by faith that is in Christ Jesus," 2 Tim. 
iii. 15. The "end of the law given by Moses, was 
for righteousness to every one thatbelieveth," Rom. x. 
4 ; and Christ was that end for righteousness. The 
moral law itself was revealed, in order to our salvation 
by believing on Christ ; or else the knowledge of it had 
nothing availed fallen man, who is unable to perform 
it. Therefore, they that slight the duty of believing, 
and account it foolishness, thereby slight, despise, and 
vilify the whole counsel of God revealed in the Scrip- 
ture. The law and the Gospel, and Christ himself, 
are become of none effect to the salvation of such. 
The only fruit that such a one can attain to, by all 
the saving doctrines of the Scripture, is only some 
hypocritical moral duties, and slavish performances, 
which will be as filthy rags in the sight of God in the 
great day. However many mind not the sin of un- 
belief in their self-examinations, and write it not in 
their scrolls, yet let them know, that this is the most 
pernicious sin of all. All the sins in their scrolls would 
not prevail to their condemnation, yea, they would 
not prevail in their conversation, were it not for their 
unbelief. This one sin prevailing, makes it impossible 
for them to please God in any duty whatsoever, Heb. 
xi. 6. If you will not mind this one main sin now, 
God will at last remind you of it with a vengeance 



XI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 183 

for "he that believeth not on the Son, shall not see 
life ; but t?he wrath of God abideth on him," John iii. 
36. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from hea- 
ven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that obey 
not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," 2 Thess. i. 
7.8. 

2. Believing on Christ, is a work that will require 
diligent endeavor and labor for the performance of it. 
We must labor to enter into that rest, lest any man 
fall by unbelief, Heb. iv. 11. "We must show dili- 
gence to the full assurance of hope to the end, that 
we may be followers of them who through faith and 
patience inherit the promises," Heb. vi. 11, 12. It is 
a work that requires the exercise of might and power; 
and therefore we have need to be strengthened with 
might by the Spirit in the inward man, that Christ may 
dwell in our hearts by faith, Eph. iii. 16, 17. I con- 
fess, it is easy, pleasant, and delicious in its own na- 
ture, because it is a motion of the heart, without any 
cumbersome bodily labor ; and it is taking Christ and 
His salvation as our own, which is very comfortable and 
delightful ; and the soul is carried forth in this, by love 
to Christ and its own happiness, which is an affection 
that makes even hard works easy and pleasant : yet it 
is made difficult to us, by reason of the opposition that 
it meets with from our own inward corruptions, and 
from Satan's temptations. It is no easy matter to re- 
ceive Christ as our happiness and free salvation, with 
true confidence and lively affection, when the guilt of 
sin lies heavily upon the conscience, and the wrath of 
God is manifested by the Word and terrible judgments ; 
especially when we have been long accustomed to seek 
salvation by the procurement of our own works, and to 
account the way of salvation by free grace, foolish and 
pernicious : when our lusts incline us strongly to the 
things of the flesh and the world ; when Satan does 
his utmost, by his own suggestions, and by false teach- 
ers, and by worldly allurements and terrors, to hinder 



184 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [ DIRECT 

the sincere performance of this duty. Many works 
that are easy in their own nature, prove difficult for us 
to perform in our circumstances. To forgive our ene- 
mies, and to love them as ourselves, is but a morion of 
the mind, easily to be performed in its own nature ; 
and yet many that are convinced of their duty, find it 
a hard matt'er to bring their hearts to the perform- 
ance of it. It is but a motion of the mind, to cast our 
care upon God for worldly things, and rich men may 
think they can do it easily ; but poor men that have 
great families, find it a hard matter. That easy, com- 
fortable duty which Moses exhorted the Israelites to, 
when Pharaoh with his chariots and horsemen over- 
took them at the Red Sea, " Fear ye not, stand still, 
and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show 
to you to-day," Exod. xiv. 13, was not easily per- 
formed. The very easiness of some duties makes their 
performance difficult ; as Naaman the Syrian could 
hardly be brought to wash and be clean, because he 
thought it too slight and easy a remedy for the cure of 
his leprosy, 2 Kings v. 12, 13. So, even in this very 
case, people are offended at the duty of believing on 
Christ, as too slight and easy a remedy to cure the 
leprosy of the soul; they would have some harder 
thing enjoined them, to the attainment of so great an 
end as this everlasting salvatiom The performance of 
all the moral law is not accounted work enough for this 
end, Matt. xix. 17, 20. However easy the work of 
believing seems to many, yet common experience has 
shown that men are more easily brought to the most 
burdensome, unreasonable, and inhuman observations ; 
as the Jews and Christian Galatians were more easily 
brought to take upon their necks the yoke of Moses* 
law, which none were able to bear, Acts xv. 10. The 
heathens were more easily brought to burn their sons 
and their daughters in the fire to their gods, Deut. xii. 
31. The Papists are brought more easily to their vow T s 
of chastity and poverty, and obedience to the most 



XI.] OF SANCT1FICATION. 185 

rigorous rules of monastic discipline ; to macerate and 
torture their bodies with fastings, scourges, and pil- 
grimages ; and to bear all the excessive tyranny of the 
Papal hierarchy, in a multitude of burdensome super- 
stitious and ridiculous devotions. They that slight the 
work of faith for its easiness, show, that they were 
never yet made sensible of innumerable sins, and the 
terrible curse of the law, and wrath of God that they lie 
under ; and of the darkness and vanity of their minds, 
the corruption and hardness of their hearts, and their 
bondage under the power of sin and Satan ; and have 
not been truly humbled, without which they cannot 
believe in a right manner. Many sound believers have 
found by experience that it has been a very hard mat- 
ter to bring their hearts to the duty of believing ; it 
has cost them vigorous struggles and sharp conflicts 
with their own corruptions, and Satan's temptations. 
It is so difficult a work that we cannot perform it with- 
out the mighty working of the Spirit of God in our 
hearts, who only can make it to be absolutely easy to 
us, and who makes it easy, or suffers it to be difficult, 
according as He is pleased to communicate his grace in 
various degrees to our souls. 

3. Though we cannot possibly perform this great 
work in a right manner until the Spirit of God work 
faith in our hearts by his mighty power, yet it is neces- 
sary that we should endeavor it, and that before we 
can find the Spirit of God working faith effectually in 
us, or giving strength to believe. We can perform no 
holy duty acceptably, except the Spirit of God work it 
in us ; and yet we are not hereby excused from work- 
ing ourselves, but we are the rather stirred up to the 
greater diligence : " Work out your own salvation, with 
fear and trembling ; for it is God that worketh in you 
both to will and to do of His good pleasure," Phil. ii. 
12, 13. The way whereby the Spirit works faith in 
the elect, is, by stirring them up to endeavor to believe. 
And this is a way suitable to the means that the Spirit 
16* 



186 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

uses, that is, the exhortations, commands, and invita- 
tions of the Gospel, which would be of no force if we 
were not to obey them until we find faith already 
wrought in us. Neither can we possibly find that the 
Spirit of God effectually works faith, or gives strength 
to believe, until we act it ; for all inward graces, as 
well as all other inward habits, are. discerned by their 
acts, as seed in the ground by its springing. We can- 
not see any such thing as love to God or man in our 
hearts before we act it. 

Children know not their ability to stand upon their 
feet, until they have made trial by endeavoring so to 
do : so we know not our spiritual strength, until we have 
learned by experience from the use and exercise of it. 
Neither can we know, or assure ourselves absolutely, 
that the Spirit of God will give us strength to believe, 
before we act faith ; for such a knowledge and assur- 
ance, if it be right, is saving faith itself in part ; and 
whoever trusts on Christ assuredly for strength to be- 
lieve by his Spirit, does, in effect, trust on Christ for 
His own salvation, which is inseparably joined with the 
grace of saving faith. Though the Spirit works other 
duties in us by faith, yet He works faith in us imme- 
diately, by hearing, knowing, and understanding the 
word : " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
word of God," Rom. x. IV. And in the word He 
makes no absolute promise or declaration, that He will 
work faith in this or that unbelieving heart ; or that He 
will give strength to believe to any one in particular ; 
or begin the work of believing in Christ ; for faith it- 
self is the first grace whereby we have a particular in- 
terest in any saving promise. It is a thing hidden in the 
secret counsel and purpose of God concerning us, whe- 
ther He will give us His Spirit and saving faith, until 
our election be discovered by our believing actually. 
Therefore as soon as we know the duty of believing, 
we are to apply ourselves immediately to the vigor- 
ous performance of the duty, and, in so doing, we 



XI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 187 

shall find that the Spirit of Christ has strengthened 
us to believe, though we know not certainly that He 
will do it beforehand. The Spirit comes undiscerni- 
bly upon the elect, to work faith within them : like the 
wind that " bloweth where it listeth, and none knoweth 
whence it cometh, and whither it goeth," but we only 
hear the sound of it, and thereby know it when it is 
past and gone, John iii. 8. We must therefore begin 
the work, before we know that the Spirit does or will 
work in us savingly ; and we shall be willing to set 
about the work if we be Christ's people; for, "Thy 
people shall be willing in the day of thy power," Ps. 
ex. 3. It is enough that God discovers to us before- 
hand in the Gospel what faith is, and the ground we 
have to believe on Christ for our own salvation ; and 
that God requires this duty of us, and will help us in 
the performance of it, if we apply ourselves heartily 
thereto : " Fear not ; I command thee, be strong, and 
of good courage," Josh. L 6. "Arise and be doing, and 
the Lord will be with thee," 1 Chron. xxii. 16. There- 
fore he who receives this Gospel discovery as the word 
of God in hearty love, is taught by the Spirit, and will 
certainly come to Christ by believing, John vi. 45. 
Every one that receives it not, despises God, makes 
Him a liar, and deserves justly to perish for his 
unbelief. 

4. Though the Spirit works saving faith only in the 
elect, and others believe not, because they are not of 
Christ's sheep, John x. 26, and on that account it is 
called the "faith of God's elect," Tit. i. 1, yet all 
that hear the Gospel, are obliged to the duty of believ- 
ing, as well as to all the duties of the moral law, and 
that before they know their own particular election ; 
and they are liable to condemnation for unbelief, as well 
as for any other sin : " He that believeth not, is con- 
demned already, because he hath not believed on the 
name of the only begotten Son of God," John iii. 18. 
The apostle Paul shows, that the elect Israelites ob- 



188 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERV [dIRECI 

tained salvation, and the rest that were not elected, 
were blinded ; and yet even these wore broken off from 
the good olive-tree, because of their unbelief, Rom. xi. 
7, 20. We cannot have a certain knowledge of our 
election to eternal life before we believe ; it is a thing 
hidden in the unsearchable counsel of God, until it be 
manifest by our effectual calling, and believing on Christ. 
The Apostle knew the election of the Thessalonians, 
by finding the evidence of their faith, that the Gospel 
came to them, not in " word only, but also in power, 
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance: and 
that they had received the word in much affliction, with 
joy in the Holy Ghost," 1 Thess. i. 4, 5, 6. We are 
to see our calling, if we would find out that God has 
chosen us, 1 Cor. i. 26, 27. Therefore we must believe 
on Christ before we know our election, or else we shall 
never know it, and shall never believe. And it is no 
presumption for us to trust confidently on Christ for 
everlasting life, before we have any good evidence of 
our election ; because God who cannot lie, has made a 
general promise, "That whosoever believeth on Him, 
shall not be ashamed," without making the least 
difference among them that perform this duty, Rom. x. 
11, 22. The promise is as firm, and sure to be fulfil- 
led, as any of God's decrees and purposes ; and there- 
fore it is a good and sufficient ground for our confi- 
dence. It is certain, that all whom the Father has 
given to Christ by the decree of eternal election shall 
come to Christ ; and it is as really certain, that " Christ 
will in no wise cast out any that cometh to Him," who- 
soever he be, John vi. 37. And we need not fear that 
we shall infringe God's degree of election, by believing 
on Christ confidently for our salvation, before we know 
what God has decreed concerning us ; for, if we be- 
lieve, we shall at last be found among the number of 
the elect ; and, if we refuse to believe, we shall there- 
by wilfully place ourselves among the reprobates, who 
stumble at the word, being disobedient, "whereunto also 



XI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 189 

they are appointed," 1 Peter ii. 8. I shall add further, 
that though we have no evidence of our particular elec- 
tion before we believe, yet we are to trust on Christ 
assuredly, to make it evident to us, by giving us that 
salvation which is the peculiar portion of the elect 
only. All spiritual saving blessings, wherewith God 
blesses His people in Christ, are the peculiar portion 
of them whom " God has chosen in Christ before the 
foundation of the world," Eph. i. 3, 4 ; yet we must 
necessarily trust on Christ for those saving blessings, 
or have none at all. We are to pray in faith, nothing 
doubting, that God will remember us with the favor 
that He bears to His people ; that we may see the 
good of His chosen, and glory with His inheritance, 
Ps. cvi. 4, 5. Therefore we are to trust assuredly on 
God, that He will deal with us as His chosen people. 
Thus it appears that it is not presumption, but your 
bounden duty, to apply yourselves to the great work of 
believing on Christ for salvation, without questioning at 
all beforehand, whether you are elected or not : " Se- 
cret things belong to God, but those things that are 
revealed, belong unto us, that we may do them," Deut. 
xxix. 29. 

The second thing directed to, is, that you shall endea- 
vor to perform this duty in a right manner. This is a 
point of great importance, because the want of it will 
render your faith ineffectual to sanctification and salva- 
tion. The great duty of love, which is the end of the law, 
and the principal fruit of sanctification, must flow from 
faith unfeigned, 1 Tim. i. 5. 

There is a feigned faith, that does not really receive 
Christ into the heart, and will not produce love, or any 
true obedience ; such as Simon Magus had, Acts viii. 
13, 23 ; for, notwithstanding his faith, he was in the 
"gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity;" and 
such as those Jews had, to whom Christ would not 
commit Himself, who did not confess Him, lest they 



190 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

should l>e put out of the synagogue, John ii. 23, and 
xii. 43 ; and such as the apostle James speaks of — 
"What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he 
hath faith, and have not works? Can that faith save 
him ? The devils also believe and tremble,'' James ii. 
14, 19. Take heed, therefore, lest you deceive your 
souls with a counterfeit faith, instead of the precious 
faith of God's elect. The way to distinguish the one 
from the other is by considering well what is the right 
manner of that believing which is effectual to salvation. 
Hypocrites may perform the same works as regards 
the matter, with true saints ; but they are defective in 
the manner of performance, wherein the excellency of 
the work chiefly consists. One great reason why many 
seek to enter in at the strait gate, and are not able, 
Luke xiii. 24, is, because they are ignorant and defec- 
tive in the right manner of acting this faith whereby 
they are to enter. Now, I confess, that God only is 
able to guide us effectually in the right way of believ- 
ing. And we have this great consolation, when we see 
our own folly and proneness to mistake our way, that, 
if we heartily desire and endeavor to believe on Christ 
aright, we may confidently trust on Christ to guide us. 
God has promised, that the wayfaring men, though 
fools, shall not err in the way of holiness; and that He 
will teach sinners in the way ; " The meek will He 
guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His 
way," Psalm xxv. 8, 9 ; and He commands them that 
lack wisdom " to ask it of God in faith, nothing doubt- 
ing," James i. 5, 6. We are, however, to know, that God 
guides us only according to the rule of His word ; and 
we must endeavor to learn from the word the right 
way of believing, or else we are not able so much as to 
trust rightly on God for guidance and direction in this 
great work, To help you herein, I have given you be- 
fore, in this treatise, a description of saving faith ; and 
have showed, that it contains two acts in it : the one 
is, believing the truth of the Gospel ; the other is, be- 



XI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 19\ 

lieving on Christ, as revealed and freely promised to us 
in the Gospel, for all His salvation. Now, your great 
endeavor must be, to perform both these acts in a right 
manner ; as I shall show concerning each of them in 
particular. 

In the first place, You are highly concerned to en- 
deavor after a right belief of the truth of the Gospel 
of Christ; that so you may be well furnished, dis- 
posed, and encouraged to believe on Christ, as revealed 
and promised in the Gospel. Hereby you are to re- 
move all uncomfortable thoughts, and objections of 
Satan and your own conscience, and to overcome all 
corrupt inclinations, that hinder a cheerful embracing 
of Christ and His salvation. It is found, by experience, 
that, when any fail in the second act of faith, the rea- 
son of the failing is commonly some defect in this first 
act. There is some false imagination or other in 
them, contrary to the belief of the truth of the Gos- 
pel : which is a stronghold of sin and Satan that must 
be pulled down, before they can receive Christ into 
their hearts by believing on Him. If they knew the 
name of Christ, as He is discovered in the Gospel, and 
judged aright of the truth and excellency of it, they 
would not fail to put their trust in Him. And we are 
in great danger of entertaining such false imaginations, 
and to account many truths of the Gospel strange par- 
adoxes, yea foolish and pernicious, because of our ig- 
norance, self-conceitedness, guilty consciences, corrupt 
affections, and manifold errors, wherewith our judg- 
ments are prepossessed in matters of salvation ; and be- 
cause Satan labors to beguile us, as he did Eve, through 
his subtlety, to corrupt our minds from the simplicity 
of the Gospel that is in Christ, 2 Cor. xi. 3. I shall 
therefore give you some particular instructions, that 
are of greatest moment, to prevent such defects as we 
are most liable to in the first act of our faith. 

1. You must believe with a full persuasion, that you 
are a child of wrath by nature, as well as others ; fal- 



192 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

len from God by the sin of the first Adam ; dead in 
trespasses and sins ; subject to the curse of the law of 
God, and to the power of Satan, and to insupportable 
misery to all eternity ; and that you cannot possibly 
procure your reconciliation with God, or any spiritual 
life and strength to do any good work, by any endeav- 
ors to get salvation according to the terms of the leoal 
covenant ; and that you cannot find any way to escape 
out of this sinful and miserable condition by your own 
reason and understanding, without supernatural revela- 
tion, nor be freed from it, except by that infinite power 
that raises the dead. We must not be afraid, as some 
are, to know our own vileness and sinfulness ; neither 
must we be willing to think ourselves better than we 
are ; but must be heartily desirous and glad to know 
the worst of our own condition; yea, when we have 
found out the worst that we can of ourselves, we must 
be willing to believe, that our hearts are deceitful, and 
desperately wicked, beyond all that we can know and 
find out, Jer. xvii. 9. This is all necessary, to work in 
us true humiliation, self-despair, and self-loathing, that 
we may highly esteem, and earnestly seek the salvation 
of Christ, as the one thing necessary. It makes us 
sick of sin, and sensible of our need of the great Phy- 
sician, and willing to be ordered according to any of 
His prescriptions, whatsoever we suffer, rather than to 
follow our own wisdom, Matt. ix. 12. It was for want 
of this humiliation that the Scribes and Pharisees were 
not so forward to enter into the kingdom of heaven as 
the publicans and harlots, Matt. xxi. 31. 

2. You are to believe assuredly, that there is no way 
to be saved, without receiving all the saving benefits 
of Christ, His Spirit as well as His merits, sanctification 
as well as remission of sins, by faith. It is the ruin of 
many souls, that they trust on Christ for remission of 
sins, without any regard to holiness ; whereas, these 
two benefits are inseparably joined to Christ, so that 
none are freed from condemnation by Christ, but those 



XI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 193 

who are enabled to walk holily, that is, not aftet 
the flesh, but after the Spirit, Rom. viii. 1. It is also 
the rule of souls, to seek only remission of sins by faith 
in Christ, and holiness by our endeavors, according to 
the terms of the law ; whereas, we can never live to 
God in holiness, except we be dead to the law, and live 
only by Christ living in us by faith. That faith which 
receives not holiness as well as remission of sins from 
Christ, will never sanctify us ; and therefore it will 
never bring us to heavenly glory, Heb. xii. 14. 

3. You are to be fully persuaded of the "all-suffi- 
ciency of Christ for the salvation of yourself, and of 
all that believe on Him ; that His blood cleanseth from 
all sin," 1 John i. 7. Though our sins be ever so great 
and horrible, and continued in ever so long, yet He is 
able to deliver us from the body of death, and to mor- 
tify our corruptions, be they ever so strong. We find 
in Scripture, that abominable wicked persons have been 
saved by Him, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, covetous, 
drunkards, extortioners, &c, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10 ; such as 
have sinned against the light of nature, as the heathen, 
and the light of Scripture, as the Jews ; such as have 
denied Christ, as Peter, and persecuted and blasphemed 
Him, as Paul. Many that have fallen into great sins 
are ruined forever, because they do not account the 
grace of Christ sufficient for their pardon and sanctifi- 
cation; when they think they are gone, and past all 
hope of recovery, that their " sins are upon them, and 
they pine away in them, how shall they live ?" Ezek. 
xxxiii. 10. This despair works secretly in many souls, 
without such trouble and horror, and makes them care- 
less of their souls and true religion. The devil fills 
some with horrid, filthy, blasphemous thoughts, on 
purpose that they may think their sins too great to be 
forgiven ; though commonly such thoughts are the least 
of the sins of those who are pestered with them, and 
are rather the devil's sin than theirs, because they are 
hurried into them sore against their wills : but, if their 
17 



194 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

hearts be somewhat polluted with them, Christ testifies,. 
" that all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be for- 
given, except the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost," 
Matt. xii. 31. And as for those that are guilty of 
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, the reason why 
they are never forgiven, is not because of any want of 
sufficiency in the blood of Christ, or in the pardoning 
mercy of God ; but because the} 7 never repent of that 
sin, and never seek to God for mercy through Christ, 
but continue obstinate until death ; for the Scripture 
testifies, that it is impossible to renew them again unto 
repentance, Heb. vi. 5, 6. So that the merits of Christ 
are sufficient for all that seek to him for mercy by be- 
lieving. There are others that despair of ever getting 
any victory over their lusts, because they have formerly 
made many vows and resolutions, and have used many 
vigorous endeavors against them in vain. Such are to 
persuade themselves, that the grace of Christ is suffi- 
cient for them, when all other means have failed : as 
the woman that had the issue of blood, and was nothing 
bettered, but rather grew worse by any remedies that 
physicians could prescribe, yet persuaded herself, that, 
if she might but touch the clothes of Christ, she should 
be whole, Mark v. 25-28. Those that despair, by 
reason of the greatness of their guilt and corruption, 
greatly dishonor and undervalue the grace of God, His 
infinite mercy, and the infinite merits of Christ's blood, 
and the power of the Spirit, and deserve to perish with 
Cain and Judas. Abundance of people who give up 
themselves to all licentiousness in this wicked genera- 
tion, lie under secret despair; which makes them so 
desperate in swearing, blaspheming, whoring, drunken- 
ness, and all manner of wickedness. How horrid and 
heinous soever our sins and corruptions have been, we 
should learn to account them a small matter in com- 
parison to the grace of Christ, who is God as well as 
man, and offered up himself, by the eternal Spirit, as a 
sacrifice of an infinite value, for our salvation ; and can 



XI. J OF SANCTIFICATIOtf. 191 

create us anew as easily as He created the world by the 
speaking of a word. 

4. You are to be fully persuaded by the truth of the 
general free promise, in your own particular case, that 
if you believe on Christ sincerely, you shall have ever- 
lasting life, as well as any other in the world, without 
^performing any condition of works to procure an inter- 
est in Christ ; for the promise is universal : " Whoso- 
ever believeth on him, shall not be ashamed," Rom. ix. 
33, without any exception. And, if God exclude you 
not, you must not exclude yourselves ; but rather con- 
clude peremptorily, that, how vile, wicked, and unwor- 
thy soever you be, yet if you come, you shall be ex- 
cepted, as well as any other in the world. You are to 
believe that great article of the creed, the remission 
of sins, in your own case, when you are principally 
concerned, or else it will little profit you to believe it 
in the case of others. This is that which hinders many 
broken, wounded spirits from coming to the great Phy- 
sician, when they are convinced of the abominable fil- 
thiness of their hearts, and that they are dead in sin, 
without the least spark of true grace and holiness in them. 
They think that it is in vain for such as they are, to trust 
on Christ for salvation ; and that Christ will never save 
such as they are. Why so? They can be but lost 
creatures at worst ; and Christ came to seek and save 
those that are lost. If they that are dead in sin, can- 
not be saved, then all must despair and perish ; for 
none have any spiritual life, until they receive it by be- 
lieving on Christ. Some think themselves worse than 
any others, and that none have such wicked hearts as 
they ; and though others be accepted, yet they shall be 
rejected. But they should know, that Christ came to 
save the chief of sinners, 1 Tim. i. 15 ; and that the 
design of God is to show the exceeding riches of His 
grace, in our salvation, Eph. ii. 7 ; which is most glo- 
rified by pardoning the greatest sinners. And it is 
only our ignorance, which leads us to think ourselves 



196 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

like no one else ; for all others, as well as we, are nat- 
urally dead in trespasses and sins ; their mind is en- 
mity to God, and is not subject to His law, nor indeed 
can be, Rom. viii. 1 ; and every imagination of the 
thoughts of their hearts are only evil, and continually 
so, Gen. vi. 5 ; they have all the same corrupt fountain 
of all abominations in their hearts, though we ma^ 
have exceeded many others in several actual sins. 
Others think that they have outstayed their time, and 
therefore now they should find no place for repentance, 
though they should seek it carefully with tears, Heb. 
xii. 17. But, behold nowis the accepted time; behold, 
now is the day of salvation, 2 Cor. vi. 2 ; even as long- 
as God calls upon you by the Gospel. And although 
Esau was rejected, who sought rather the earthly than 
the spiritual blessings of the birthright ; yet they shall 
not be rejected, who seek the enjoyment of Christ, and 
His salvation, as their only happiness. If you come to 
Christ's vineyard at the eleventh hour of the day, you 
shall have your penny, as well as those who came early 
in the morning ; because the reward is of grace, and 
not of merit, Matt. xx. 9, 10. And here you must 
be sure to believe steadfastly, that Christ and all His 
salvation is bestowed as a free gift upon those that do 
not work to procure any right or title to Him, or meet- 
ness or worthiness to receive Him, but only "believe on 
Him that justifieth the ungodly," Rom. iv. 5. If you 
put any condition of works or good qualifications be- 
tween yourselves and Christ, it will be a partition- wall 
which you can never climb over. 

5. You are to believe assuredly that it is the will of 
God you, as well as any other, should believe in Christ, 
and have eternal life by Him ; and that your believing 
is a duty very acceptable to God ; and that He will 
help you, as well as any other, in this work, because 
He calls and commands you, by the Gospel, to believe 
on Christ. This makes us to set cheerfully about the 
work of believing, as when Jesus commanded the blind 



| 



XI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 19? 

man to be called, they said unto him, "Be of good 
comfort, rise ; He calleth thee," Mark x. 49. A com- 
mand of Christ made Peter to walk upon the water, 
Matt. xiv. 29. And here we are not to meddle with 
God's secret of predestination, or the purpose of His 
will to give the grace of faith to some rather than 
others ; but only with His revealed will, in his His gra- 
cious invitations and commands, by which we are re- 
quired to believe on Christ. This will of God is con- 
firmed by his oath : " As I live, saith the Lord God, I 
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that 
the wicked turn from his way, and live : turn ye, turn 
ye from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, house 
of Israel," Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Christ testifies that He 
"would often have gathered the children of Jerusalem, 
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
and they would not," Matt, xxiii. 37. And the apostle 
Paul testifies that God " will have all men to be saved," 
&c, 1 Tim. ii. 4. You are to reject and abandon all 
thoughts that are contrary to this persuasion. What 
if few be saved? Thy salvation will not make the 
number too great ; for few will follow thee in the duty 
of believing. What if the wrath of God be revealed 
from heaven against thee in many terrible judgments, 
and the word, and thine own conscience condemn thee, 
and Christ seem to reckon thee no better than a dog, 
as he did the woman of Canaan? Matt. xv. 26. Thou 
art to make a good interpretation of all these things, 
that the end of them is, to drive thee to Christ, as this 
was the end of the curses of the law, and all the terri- 
ble dispensations of them, Rom. x. 4. If a prophet, 
or an angel from heaven, were sent of God, on pur- 
pose to declare that the sentence of everlasting damna- 
tion is pronounced against thee, it would be thy duty 
to believe that God sent him to give thee timely warn- 
ing for this very end, that thou mightest believe, and 
turn to God by faith and repentance. Jeremiah proph- 
esied against the Jews, that God would pluck them up, 
17* 



198 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

pull them down, and destroy them for their sins ; yet 
he himself taught them, " If they turned from their 
evil ways, God would repent him of the evil," Jer. 
xviii. 7, 8, 11. Jonah preached nothing but certain 
destruction to Nineveh, to be executed upon them 
within forty days, chap. iii. 4 ; yet the intent of that 
terrible message was, that those heathenish people 
might escape destruction by repentance. The most 
absolute and peremptory denunciations s of divine ven- 
geance against us, while we are in the world, must 
always be understood with a secret reserve of salvation 
for us, upon our faith and repentance. And we are to 
account that the reason why God so terribly denounces 
his judgments against us by his word, is, that Ave may 
escape them, by flying for refuge to His free mercy in 
Christ. Take heed of fostering any thoughts that God 
has absolutely decreed to show no saving mercy to 
you ; or that you have already committed the unpar- 
donable sin ; or that it is in vain for you to attempt the 
work of believing, because God will not help you in it. 
If such thoughts prevail in your hearts, they will do 
you more hurt than the most blasphemous thoughts 
that terrify you, or any of the grossest abominations 
that ever you were guilty of, because they obstruct 
your believing on Christ for salvation. " The Spirit 
and the bride say, Come. Christ saith, Whosoever will, 
let him take the water of life freely," Rev. xxii. 17. 
Therefore, we are to abandon all thoughts that hinder 
our coming to Christ, as very sinful and pernicious, 
arising in us from our own corruptions, and Satan's de- 
lusions, and utterly opposite to the mind of Christ, 
and the teachings of the Spirit. And what ground 
can we have to entertain such unbelieving thoughts ? 
Has God made us of his privy council that we should 
be able to know that He has decreed us to damnation 
before it be manifest by our final unbelief and impeni- 
tence ? As for the unpardonable sin, it consists in re- 
nouncing the way of salvation by Christ with the whole 



XI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 199 

heart, after we have attained to the knowledge of it, 
and are convinced of the truth of it by the Gospel. 
It is the sin that the Christian Hebrews would have 
been guilty of if they had revolted from Christianity 
to the religion of the unbelieving Jews, who accounted 
Christ to be an impostor, and were most rancorous 
persecutors of Him and his ways, Heb. vi. 4, 5. They 
who have committed that sin, continue implacable, 
malicious enemies to 'Christ and his ways to the end, 
without any repentance. Therefore, if you can but 
find that you desire seriously to get an interest in 
Christ, and to be better Christians than you are ; if 
you be troubled and grieved that your hearts and lives 
are so wicked, and that you want faith, love, and true 
obedience ; yea, if your hearts be not maliciously bent 
to persecute the Gospel, and to prefer atheism, licen- 
tiousness, or any false religion before it, you have no 
cause to suspect yourselves to be guilty of this unpar- 
donable sin. 

6. Add to all these, "A full persuasion of the in- 
comparable glorious excellency of Christ, and of the 
way of salvation by Him." You are to esteem the 
enjoyment of Christ as the only salvation and true hap- 
piness, and such a happiness as has in it unsearchable 
riches of glory, and will make our cup run over with 
exceeding abundance of peace, and joy, and glory, to 
all eternity. We must account all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our 
Lord, <fec, Phil. iii. 8. Such a persuasion as this will 
allure and incline your wills and affections to choose 
and embrace Christ as the chief good, and never to 
rest satisfied without the enjoyment of Him ; and to 
reject everything that stands in competition with Him, 
or the enjoyment of Him. Christ is precious in the 
esteem of all true believers, 1 Pet. ii. 7. Their high 
esteem of His incomparable preciousness and excel- 
lency, induces them to sell all, that they may buy this 
pearl of great price, Matt. xiii. 46. This makes them 



200 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

to say, " Lord, evermore give us this bread, that com 
eth down from Heaven, and giveth life to the world, 
Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of 
eternal life," John vi. 32, 33, 34, 68. "Because of 
the savor of His good ointments, His name is as oint- 
ment poured forth ; therefore do the virgins love Him," 
Song, i. 2, "They are sick of love to Him, because 
He is, in their eyes, the chiefest among ten thousand," 
Song, v. 8, 10. As the glory of God that appeared 
in the wonderful beauty of the temple, and in the wis- 
dom and glory of Solomon, drew worshippers to God 
from the utmost parts of the earth ; so the unparalleled 
excellency of Christ, which was prefigured by the glory 
of Solomon and the temple, more powerfully draws be- 
lievers in these gospel days. The devil, who is the 
god of this world, knows how necessary it is for our 
salvation, to discern all the glory and excellency of 
Christ ; and therefore where the Gospel is preached, 
he makes it his great work to eclipse the glory of 
Christ in his ministry, and to blind the minds of the 
people, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ 
should shine unto them, 2 Cor. iv. 4. One who is con- 
vinced of the truth of the Gospel, may be averse to 
embracing it until he see also the goodness of it, that 
Christ is altogether lovely and excellent. 

I come now to the " second principal act of faith 
whereby Christ himself, and His Spirit, and all His 
saving benefits, are actually received into the heart ; 
which is, believing on Christ, as revealed and freely 
promised to us in the Gospel, for all His salvation." 
The Spirit of God habitually disposes and inclines our 
hearts to a right performance of this act, by enabling 
us to perform the first act, according to the former 
instructions, by believing assuredly those great things 
of the Gospel delivered to us in "a form of doctrine," 
Rom. vi. 16, which we are to obey from our hearts, 
and to follow as our pattern, in the manner of our 
acting faith in Christ for salvation. Therefore I need 



XI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 201 

only exhort you briefly to act your faitli in Christ ac- 
cording to that form and pattern, in which you have 
been already so largely instructed. You are to believe 
in Christ as alone sufficient, and all-sufficient for your 
happiness and salvation ; despairing altogether of any 
attainment of happiness by your own wisdom, strength, 
works of righteousness, or any fleshly, worldly confi- 
dences whatever. We must be as dead people to all 
other confidences, and account them to be loss for 
Christ, according to the example of the blessed Apos- 
tle, Phil. iii. 3, 1, 8. We must not be grieved, that 
we have nothing to trust upon besides Christ for our 
salvation ; but rather we are to rejoice, that we need 
nothing else, and that we have a sure foundation to 
rely upon, incomparably better than any other that can 
be imagined. And we must resolve to cast the burden 
of our souls wholly on Christ, and to seek salvation no 
other way, whatever becomes of us. If the cripple 
lay not the whole weight of his body upon a strong 
staff, but part of it on a rotten one, he is likely to 
receive a fall. If the swimmer will not commit his 
body wholly to the water to bear him up, but catches 
at weeds, or struggles to feel out ground, he may sink 
to the bottom. Christ will be all our salvation, or 
nothing. If we seek to be saved any other way, as 
the Galatians did by circumcision, Christ will profit us 
nothing, Gal. vi. 2. 

You are also to receive Christ merely as a free gift, 
given to the chief of sinners, resolving that you will 
not perform any conditions to procure yourselves a 
right and title to Him ; but that you will come to Him 
as a lost sinner, an ungodly creature trusting on Him 
that justifieth the ungodly ; and that you will buy Him 
without money, and without any price whatsoever, Rom. 
iv. 5, Isa. lv. 2. Look not on your own faith or love, 
or any good qualifications in yourselves, as the ground 
of your trusting in Christ, but only to the free grace 
and loving kindness of God in Christ : " How excellent 



202 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

is thy loving kindness, God ! therefore the children 
of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." 
Psal. xxxvi. 7. For, if you make your faith, love, or 
good qualifications, your first and principal foundation, 
and you build Christ upon them, instead of building 
all upon Christ, you invert the order of the Gospel, and 
Christ will profit you nothing. 

Another thing to be observed diligently, is, that you 
must come to Christ for a new holy heart and life, and 
all things necessary thereunto, as well as for deliver- 
ance from the wrath of God, and the torments of hell. 
You must also come to Him with an ardent love and 
affection to Him, and esteem Him better than a thou- 
sand worlds, and the only excellent portion ; loathing 
and abhorring yourself, as a vile, sinful, and miserable 
creature, and " accounting all things dung" in compari- 
son of His excellency; that you may be able to say 
from the bottom of your heart, " Whom have I in 
heaven but Thee ? and there is none upon earth that I 
desire beside Thee," Psal. lxxiii. 25. 

Lastly, You must endeavor to draw near with full 
assurance of faith, Heb. x. 22 ; trusting on Christ con- 
fidently for your own particular salvation, upon the 
warrant of that general promise, that " whosoever be- 
lieveth on Christ shall not be ashamed," Rom. ix. 33. 
You must check yourselves for-all doubtings, fears, or 
staggerings, concerning your own salvation by Christ, 
saying with the Psalmist, " Why art thou cast down, 
my soul," &c. Psal. xliii. 11. 

The third thing contained in this direction, is the 
avoiding all delay in the performance of this great 
work or believing in Christ. Until we have performed 
it, we continue under the power of sin and Satan, and 
under the wrath of God; and there is nothing between 
hell and us, but the breath of our nostrils. It is dan- 
gerous for Lot to linger in Sodom, lest fire and brim- 
stone come down from heaven upon him. The man- 



.tl.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 203 

slayer must flee with all haste to the city of refuge, 
lest the avenger of blood pursue him, while his heart 
is hot, and slay him, Deut. xix. 5, 6. We should 
make haste, and not delay, to keep God's command- 
ments, Psal. cxix. 60, and flee for refuge to the hope 
set before us, Heb. vi. 18. And God commands us 
to flee thus by faith, without which it is impossible to 
please God in other duties. The work is of such a 
nature, that it may be performed as soon as you hear 
the Gospel. " As soon as they hear of me, they shall 
obey me," Psal. xviii. 44. "As soon as Zion travailed, 
she brought forth her children/' Isa. lxvi. 8. We have 
many examples of those that received the word by 
faith at the first hearing of it. Three thousand were 
added to the Church on the very same day wherein 
Peter first published the Gospel in Jerusalem, Acts ii. 
41. So, many Jews and Gentiles were converted at 
the first hearing of the apostle Paul at Antioch, Acts 
xiii. 48. The jailer and all his house believed, and 
were baptized the same night wherein Paul first 
preached to them, Acts xvi. 33, 34. The Gospel came 
at first to the Thessalonians, "not in word only, but 
in power, and in the Holy Ghost," 1 Thess. i. 5, 6. 
If God open the hearts of His people to attend dili- 
gently, they may be instructed in the knowledge of the 
Gospel by one brief sermon, sufficiently to begin the 
practice of saving faith. And, when they know their 
duty, God requires immediate performance, without 
allowing us the least respite in the state of unbelief. 
When Satan cannot prevail with people to reject 
wholly the duty of believing, his next attempt for the 
ruin of their souls, is to prevail with them at least to 
delay and shift off the performance of it from time 
to time, by several false reasonings and imaginations 
which he puts into their minds. The most ignorant 
and sensual are easily prevailed with to defer this duty, 
until they have taken their fill of the pleasures, profits, 
and honors of this world, and are summoned to prepare 



204 THE GOSP il^MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

for another world, by infirmities, age, or sickness; pray* 
ing and hoping, that a large time of repentance will 
be granted to them before they die. But such delays 
show, that they are really unwilling to repent and 
believe, until they are forced by necessity ; and that 
they prefer the pleasures, profits, and honors of the 
world above God, and Christ, and their own souls. 
Thus they unfit themselves more and more for this 
great duty, by their customary walking in sin, and by 
misspending the precious time of their health and 
strength, which is best adapted for the performance 
of this great work. They highly provoke God never 
to give them time or grace to repent hereafter. Others 
imagine, that, after they have heard the Gospel of sal- 
vation by Christ, they may lawfully defer believing it, 
until they have sufficiently examined the truth of some 
other different doctrine, or until God be pleased to 
afford them some other means, to assure them fully of 
the truth of the Gospel. Thus they who are called 
Seekers misspend the day of grace, " ever learning, 
but never coming to the knowledge of the truth," 2 
Tim. iii. 7. 

But the truth of the Gospel so clearly evidences it- 
self by its own light, that, if people do not wilfully 
shut their eyes, or blind themselves by their own pride, 
and love of their lusts, they would easily perceive that 
it is the truth of God : because the imao-e of His o-race, 
mercy, power, justice, and holiness, appears manifestly 
engraven upon it. It is a sign people are proud, when 
they consent not to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, 1 
Tim. vi. 3. If they were humble, and sincerely inclin- 
ed to do the will of God, they would know whether 
the doctrine be of God, or not, John vii. 17, they would 
quickly be persuaded by Moses and the prophets, Christ 
and the apostles, of the truth spoken to them in the 
Scripture. And, if they will not hear them, neither 
will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead ; 



XI.] OF SANO IFICATION. 205 

or whatever other miracle be wrought, to confirm the 
divine authority of the Gospel, Luke xvi. 31. An- 
other sort of people there are, that delay the great 
work of believing, to the ruin of their souls, resting 
in an attendance upon the outward means of grace and 
salvation, instead of any endeavors to receive Christ 
by faith, though they be convinced of the truth of the 
Gospel. This they call waiting upon God at the doors 
of His grace and salvation, in the use of means ap- 
pointed by Him, and sitting under the droppings of the 
sanctuary. But let them know, that this is not the right 
waiting on God required in Scripture. It is rather dis- 
obedience to God, and to the means of His appoint- 
ment; who requires, that we should be " doers of the 
word, and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves," 
James i. 22 ; and that we should come in to the spirit- 
ual feast, Luke xiv. 23 ; and not only stand at the door, 
or sit under the droppings of the house of God, lest 
Christ repute us no better than eaves-droppers. That 
holy waiting on the Lord commended to us in the 
Scripture, is ever accompanied with believing and hop- 
ing in the Lord, and depends thereon : " I had fainted, 
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord 
in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord ; be of 
good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart ; 
wait, I say, on the Lord," Ps. xxvii. 13, 14. " It is good 
that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the 
salvation of the Lord," Lam. iii. 26. What is it that 
these deluded ones wait for, before they perform the 
duty of believing ? Is it for more knowledge of the 
Gospel ? The way to increase thy knowledge, as well 
as any other talent, is, to make use of what thou hast 
received already. Believe heartily on Christ for all thy 
salvation, according to that little knowledge of the Gos- 
pel which thou hast, and thou wilt have an interest in 
the promise of knowledge contained in the new cove- 
nant: "They shall all know me, from the least to the 
greatest of them, saith the Lord," Jer. xxxi. 34. Is it 



206 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

for the appointed time of thy conversion that thou 
waitest? Then thou waitest, as those impotent folk 
that lay at the pool of Bethesda, waiting for the sea- 
son when the angel will come down and move the wa- 
ter. Know, then, that if thou enter into Christ now 
by faith, thou shall find in Him waters of life, and the 
Spirit moving them for the healing and quickening of 
thy soul. God has appointed by His word, that it 
shall be thy duty to endeavor, that the present time 
should be the time of thy conversion : " As the Holy 
Ghost saith, To-day, if thou wilt hear his voice, harden 
not thy heart," Heb. iii. 7, 8. And thou shalt never 
know at what time God has purposed, in His sacred 
counsel, to give faith to thee, until thou dost actually 
believe. Dost thou wait for any manifestations or flow- 
ings in of God's saving love to thy soul ? Then the 
way to obtain it, is, to believe, that the God of hope 
may fill thee with all joy and peace in believing, Rom. 
xv. 13. Thou hast sufficient manifestation of God' 
love to thy soul, by the free promises of life and salva- 
tion by Christ. Do but " trust on the name of the 
Lord, and stay upon thy God, when thou walkest in 
darkness, and seest no light" of sensible comforts any 
other way ; otherwise thou waitest for comfort in vain, 
and " this shalt thou have at the Lord's hand, thou 
shalt lie down in sorrow," Isa. 1.40, 11. Dost thou wait 
for any qualifications to prepare thee for the work of 
believing ? If they be good and holy qualifications, 
thou canst not have them before faith, but they are 
rather included in the nature of faith, or are fruits of it ; 
as has been largely proved. If they be bad and sinful, 
it is strange that any should wait for them, and yet no 
more strange than true. Some foolishly wait to be ter- 
rified with a sense of God's wrath, and despairing 
thoughts ; and these they call the pangs of the new 
birth ; though, in their own nature, they are rather the 
pangs of the spiritual death, and bring forth hatred to 
God, rather than holiness ; and therefore we should strive 



XI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 20? 

to prevent them, by believing God's love in Christ, 
rather than to wait for them. It is true, God makes 
these despairing thoughts, as well as any other sins, 
works for good to them that are delivered from them 
by faith in Christ ; they are moved thereby to hate sin, 
and to prize Christ the more, and the comforts of His 
gospel, and to loathe and abhor themselves : yet many 
are brought to Christ without them, by God's giving 
them the knowledge of their own sins, and of Christ's sal- 
vation together. Several examples of these were above 
mentioned, who received the word with joy at the first 
hearing of it. And we must not desire or wait for any 
evil of sin, such as these despairing thoughts are, that 
good may come of it ; neither should we expect to be 
worse before we be better, when we may and ought to 
be better presently, by believing on Christ. 

The fourth thing in the direction, is, that we should 
continue and increase in the most holy faith. And, 
that we may, we must not think, that, when we have 
once attained to the grace of saving faith, and thereby 
are begotten anew in Christ, our names are up in 
heaven, and t aerefore we may be careless : but, as long 
as we continue in this life, we must endeavor to con- 
tinue in the faith, grounded and settled, not moved away 
from the hope of the Gospel, Col. i. 23 ; and to hold 
the beginning of our confidence, and the rejoicing of 
hope, steadfast to the end, Heb. hi. 6, 14 ; and to build 
up ourselves in our most holy faith, Jude ver. 20, 
abounding therein with thanksgiving, Col. ii. 7. Though 
we receive Christ freely by faith, yet we are but babes 
in Christ, 1 Cor. iii. 1. And we must not account, 
that we have already attained, or are already perfect, 
Phil. iii. \2, 13 ; but we must strive to be more rooted 
and built up in Him, until we come unto a " perfect 
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
Christ," Eph. iv. 13. 

If the new nature be really in us by regeneration, it 



208 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

will have an appetite to its own continuance and in- 
crease, until it come to perfection, as the new-born 
babe, 1 Peter ii. 2. And we are not only to receive 
Christ, and a new holy nature, by faith, but also to live 
and walk by it, and to resist the devil, and to quench 
all his fiery darts by it, and also to grow in grace, and 
to perfect holiness in the fear of God ; for we are kept 
by the mighty power of God through faith unto salva- 
tion, 1 Peter i. 5. As all our Christian warfare is the 
good fight of faith, 1 Tim. vi. 12, all spiritual life and 
holiness continue, grow, or decay in us, according as 
faith continues, grows, or decays in vigor : but, when 
this faith begins to sink by fears and doubtings, the 
man himself begins to sink together with it, Matt. ix. 
29, 31. Faith is like the hand of Moses: while it is 
held up, Israel prevails ; when it is let down, Amalek 
prevails, Exod. xvii. 11. This continuance and growth 
in faith, will require our labor and industry as w r ell as 
the beginning ; though we are to ascribe the glory of 
all to the grace of God in Christ, who is the finisher 
as well as the author of it, Heb. xii. 2. The church 
meets with great difficulties in her marching through 
the wilderness of this world to the heavenly Canaan, as 
well as in her first deliverance from Egyptian bondage ; 
yea, we often meet with greater difficulties in going to 
perfection, than we did in the beginning of the good 
work ; the wisdom and mercy of God so ordering it, that 
we shall be exercised with the sharpest dispensations of 
providence, and the fiercest assaults of our own corrup- 
tions, and Satan's temptations, after we have grace given 
us to stand in the evil day. You must therefore endeav- 
or to continue and go on in the same right manner as I 
have taught you to begin this great work of believing 
in Christ, that your faith may be of the same nature 
from the beginning to the end, though it increase in 
degrees ; for our faith is imperfect, and joined with 
much unbelief in this world ; and we have need to pray 
still, " Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief," Mark 



M.J OF SANCT1 /ION. 209 

ix. 24 ; and therefore we have need to strive for more 
faith, that we may receive Christ in greater perfection. 
If you find your faith has produced good works, you 
should therehy increase your confidence in Christ for 
salvation by His mere grace. But take heed of chang- 
ing the nature of your faith, from trusting on the grace 
Uiid merits of Christ, to trusting °>n your own works, 
according to the Popish doctrine, that our first justifica- 
tion is by grace and faith only, but our second justifica- 
tion is also by works. Beware also of trusting on faith 
itself, as a work of righteousness, instead of trusting on 
Christ by faith. If you do not find, that yow believ- 
ing in such a right manner as I have described, pro- 
duces such fruits of holiness as you desire, you ought 
not to diminish, but rather to increase your confi- 
dence in Christ ; knowing that the weakness of your 
faith hinders its fruitfulness ; and the greater your con- 
fidence is, concerning the love of God to you in Christ, 
the greater will be your love to God and to His ser- 
vice. If you fall into any gross sin after the work is 
begun in you, as David and Peter did, think not that 
you must cast away your confidence, and expect nothing 
but wrath from God and Christ, and that you must re- 
fuse to be comforted by the grace of Christ, at least for 
some time ; for thus you would be the more weak, and 
prone to fall into other sins ; but rather strive to be- 
lieve more confidently ; that you have an advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ; and that He is 
the propitiation for our sins, 1 John ii. 1, 2. And let 
not the guilt of sin stay at all upon your conscience, but 
wash it away with all speed, in the fountain of Christ's 
blood, which is opened for us, that it may be ready for 
our use on all such incidental occasions ; that so you 
may be humbled for your sins in a gospel way, and 
may hate your own sinfulness, and be sorry for it with 
godly sorrow, out of love to God. Peter might have 
been ruined forever by denying Christ, as Judas was 
by betraying Him, if Peter's faith had not been up- 

18* 



210 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

held by the prayer of Christ, Luke xxvi. 31, 32. If a 
cloud be cast over all your inward qualifications, so that 
you can see no grace at all in yourselves ; yet still trust 
on Him that justifieth the ungodly, and came to seek 
and to save them that are lost. If God seem to deal 
with you as an enemy, by bringing on you some horri- 
ble affliction, as He did upon Job, beware of condemn- 
ing your faith and its fruits, as if they were not accept- 
able to God ; but rather say with holy Job, " Though 
He slay me, yet will I trust in Him ; but I will main- 
tain mine own ways before Him," Job. xiii. 15. Strive 
to keep and to increase faith by faith ; that is, by act- 
ing faith frequently, by trusting on God to keep and to 
increase it; being confident, that " He which hath be- 
gun a good work in you, will perform it until the day 
of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. C. 



DIRECTION XII. 

Make diligent use of your most holy faith, for the immediate 
performance of the duties of the law, by walking no longer ac- 
cording to your own natural state, or any principles or means 
of practice that belong unto it, but only according to that new 
state which you receive by faith, and the principles and means 
of practice that properly belong thereunto ; and strive to continue 
and increase in such manner of practice. This is the only way 
to attain to an acceptable performance of those holy and righteous 
duties, as far as it is possible in this present life. 

EXPLICATION. 

Here I am guiding you to the manner of practice, 
wherein you are to make use of faith, and of all other 
effectual means of holiness before treated of, which faith 
lays hold of, for the immediate performance of the law ; 
which is the great end aimed at in this whole treatise. 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 211 

And therefore Ibis deserves to be diligently considered, 
as the principal direction, to which all the foregoing 
and following are subservient. As for the meaning of 
it, I have already showed, that our old natural state is 
that which we derive from the first Adam, by natural 
generation ; and it is called, in the Scripture, tbe old 
man; and, while we are in it, we are said to be in the 
flesh. And our new state is that which we receive 
from the second Adam, Jesus Christ, by being new- 
born in union and fellowship with Him through faith ; 
and it is called, in Scripture, the new man ; and, when 
we are in it, we are said to be in the Spirit. 

The principles and means of practice belonging to a 
natural state, are such as persons do or may attain and 
make use of before they are in Christ by faith. Such 
as belong properly to the new state, are the manifold 
holy endowments, privileges, and enjoyments, which 
we partake of in Christ by faith, such as have already 
appeared to be the only effectual means of a holy life. 
We are said to walk according to either of these states, 
or to the principles or means that belong to either of them 
when we are moved and guided by virtue of them, to 
such actings as are agreeable to them. Thus kings act 
according to their state, in commanding authoritatively, 
and in magnificent bounty ; poor men in the way of ser- 
vice and obedience ; and children indiscriminately, 
Esther, i. 7, Prov. xviii. 24, 1 Cor. xiii. 11, so, the man- 
ner of practice here directed to, consists in moving and 
guiding ourselves, in the performance of the works of 
the law by gospel principles and means. This is the 
rare and excellent art of godliness, in which every 
Christian should strive to be skilful and expert. The 
reason why many come off with shame and confusion, 
after they have a long time labored with much zeal 
and industry for the attainment of true godliness, is, be- 
cause they were never acquainted with this holy art, 
and never endeavored to practise it in a right gospel 
way. Some worldly arts are called mysteries ; but 



212 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

above all, this spiritual art of godliness is, without con- 
trovers) 7 , a great mystery, 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; because the 
means that are to be made use of in it, are deeply mys- 
terious, as has been showed, and you are not a skilful 
artist till you know them, and can reduce them to 
practice. It is a manner of practice far above the 
sphere of natural ability, such as would never have 
entered into the hearts of the wisest in the world, if 
it had not been revealed to us in the Scriptures ; and 
when it is there most plainly revealed, continues a dark 
riddle to those that are not inwardly enlightened and 
taught by the holy Spirit ; such as many godly persons 
guided by the Spirit, in some measure walk in, yet but 
obscurely discern ; they can hardly perceive their own 
knowledge of it, and can hardly give any account to 
others of the way wherein they walk ; as the disciples 
that walked in Christ, the way to the Father, and yet 
perceived not that knowledge in themselves : " Lord, 
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know 
the way ?" John xiv. 5. This is the reason why many 
poor believers are so weak in Christ, and attain so 
small a degree of holiness and righteousness. There- 
fore, that you may the better be acquainted with a mys- 
tery of so great importance, I shall show in the first place, 
that the Holy Scriptures direct you to this manner of 
practice as alone effectual for the—performance of holy 
duties ; and then I shall lay before you some necessary 
instructions, that you may understand how to walk 
aright in it, and continue and go forward therein, till 
you be made perfect in Christ. 

For the first of these, the Holy Scriptures are very 
large and clear, in directing us to this manner of prac- 
tice, and to continuance and growth therein. And here 
it is useful for us, to observe the great variety of pecu- 
liar words and phrases whereby the Holy Ghost teaches 
this mystery, which many who frequently read the 
Scriptures, yea, who pretend to be preachers of the 



I 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 218 

Gospel, little understand or regard ; showing thereby 
that the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness 
to them, and that they are not yet acquainted with 
" the form of sound words," and are strangers to the 
very language of the Gospel which they profess and 
pretend to preach. I shall therefore present to your 
view several of these peculiar words and phrases, 
whereby this mysterious manner of practice is ex- 
pressed in the Holy Scriptures, and commended to you 
as the only way for the sure attainment of all holi- 
ness in the heart and life. I shall rank such of them 
together as agree in sense, that the multitude of them 
may not produce confusion in your thoughts. 

1. This is the manner of practice in Scripture, which 
is expressed by "living by faith," Hab. ii. 4, Gal. ii. 
20, Heb. x. 38 ; " walking by faith," 2 Cor. v. 1 ; 
"faith working by love," Gal. v. 6; "overcoming the 
world by faith," 1 John v. 4; "quenching all the fiery 
darts of the wicked, by the shield of faith," Eph. yi. 
16. Some make no more of "living and walking by 
faith," than merely a stirring up and encouraging 
ourselves to our duty by such principles as we be- 
lieve. Thus the Jews might account that they lived 
by faith, because they professed and assented to the 
doctrine of Moses and the prophets, and were moved 
thereby to " a zeal of God, though they sought right- 
eousness not by faith, but as it were by the works of 
the law," Rom. ix. 32. Thus Paul might think he 
lived by faith, while he was a zealous Pharisee : but af- 
terwards he knew, that the life of faith consisted in dy- 
ing to the law, and living to God ; and that not him- 
self, but Christ lived in him, Gal. ii. 19, 20. As it is 
one and the same thing, to be justified by faith, and by 
Christ believed on, Rom. v. 1, so to live, walk, and work 
by faith, is all one with living, walking, working by 
means of Christ, and His saving endowments ; which 
we receive and make use of by faith, to guide and 
move ourselves to the practice of holiness. 



214 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

2. The same thing is commended to us by the terms 
of " walking, rooted, and built up in Christ," Col. ii. 6, 
*7 ; " living to God, and not to ourselves, but to have 
Christ living in us," Gal. ii. 19, 20; "good conversa- 
tion in Christ," 1 Peter iii. 16; " putting on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, that we may walk honestly as in the day," 
Rom. xiii. 13, 14 ; " being strong in the Lord and in 
the power of His might" Eph. vi. 10 ; " doing all things 
in the name of Christ," Col. iii. 17 ; "walking up and 
down in the name of the Lord," Zech. x. 12 : "going 
in the strength of the Lord ; making mention of His 
righteousness, even of His only," Psal. lxxi. 16. These 
phrases are frequent, and sufficiently explain one an- 
other; and show, that we are to practise holiness, not 
only by virtue of Christ's authority, but also of His 
strengthening endowments moving us and encouraging 
us thereunto. 

3. It is also signified by the phrases of " being strong 
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," 2 Tim. ii. 1 ; 
" having our conversation in the world, not with flesh- 
ly wisdom, but by the grace of God," 2 Cor. i. 12 ; 
"having or holding fast grace, that we may serve God 
acceptably, laboring abundantly," in such a manner, as 
that the whole work is not performed by us, but by 
the grace of God that is with us, 1 Cor. xv. 10. By 
grace, therefore, we may well understand, the privi- 
leges of our new state given to us in Christ, whereby 
we ought to be influenced and guided in the perform- 
ance of holy duties. 

4. It is also signified, when we are to " put off the 
old, and put on the new man ;" yea, to continue in so 
doing, though we have done it in a measure already, 
and that we avoid our former sinful conversation, Eph. 
iv. 21, 22, 24 ; and to avoid sin, because we have put 
off the old, and put on the new man, Col. iii. 9, 10. I 
have already showed, that by this twofold man is not 
meant merely sin and holiness ; but, by the former, is 
meant our natural state, with all its endowments, where- 



£11.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 215 

by we are furnished only to the practice of sin ; and, 
by the latter, our new state in Christ, whereby we are 
furnished with all means necessary for the practice of 
holiness. 

5. We are to understand the same thing, when we 
are taught " not to walk after the flesh, but after the 
Spirit," that we may be "free from the law of sin," 
and that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled 
in us, Rom. viii. 1, 2, 3 ; and " through the Spirit, to 
mortify the deeds of the body ; and to be led by the 
Spirit," because we " live by the Spirit," and have " cru- 
cified the flesh, with the affections and lusts," Gal. v. 
24. The Apostle shows, by these expressions, not 
only that we are to practise holiness, but also by what 
means we may do it effectually. By the flesh is meant 
our old nature derived from the first Adam ; and by 
the spirit is meant the Spirit of Christ, and that new 
nature which we have by Him dwelling in us. We are 
said to walk after either of these natures, when we 
make the properties or qualifications of either of them 
to be the principles of our practice. So, when we are 
taught to serve in "newness of spirit, and not in the 
oldness of the letter," that so we may bring forth fruit 
unto God, the meaning is, that we must endeavor to 
biing forth the fruits of holiness, not by virtue of the 
law, that killing letter, to which the flesh is married, 
and by which the motions of sin are in us ; but by vir- 
tue of the Spirit, and his manifold riches, which we 
partake of in our new state, by a mystical mar- 
riage with Christ, Rom. vii. 4, 5, 6 ; and by virtue 
of such principles as belong to the new state de- 
clared in the Gospel, whereby the Holy Spirit is minis- 
tered to us. 

6. This is the manner of walking which the Apostle 
Paul directs us unto, when he teaches us by his own 
example, that the continual work of our lives should be, 
" to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, 
and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made con- 



216 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

formable to His death ; if by any means we may attain 
unto the resurrection of the dead, and to increase and 
press forward in this kind of knowledge," Phil. iii. 10, 
11, 12, 15. Certainly, he means such an experimental 
knowledge of Christ, and His death and resurrection, 
as effectually makes us conformable thereunto, in dy- 
ing unto sin, and living unto God. And he would 
hereby guide us, to make use of Christ, and His death 
and resurrection, by faith, as the powerful means of all 
holiness in heart and life ; and to increase in this man- 
ner of walking, until we attain to perfection in Christ. 

The second thing proposed, was, to lay before you 
some necessary instructions, that your steps may be 
guided aright, to continue and go forward in this way 
of holiness, until you be made perfect in Christ. And, 
seeing we are naturally prone to mistake this way, and 
are utterly unable to find it out, or discern it, by our 
own reason and understanding, we should the more 
diligently attend to these instructions taken out of the 
holy Scriptures. And we should pray earnestly, that 
God would give unto us the spirit of wisdom and reve- 
lation, that we may discern the way of holiness thereby, 
and walk aright in it ; according to that gracious pro- 
mise, " The way-faring men, though fools, shall not err 
therein," Isa. xxxv. 8. 

1. Let us observe, and consider diligently, in our 
whole conversation, that though we are partakers of a 
new holy state by faith in Christ ; yet our natural state 
remains, in a measure, with all its corrupt principles 
and properties. As long as we live in this present 
world, our apprehension of Christ and His perfection, 
in this life, is only by faith ; whereas, by sense and 
reason, we may apprehend much in ourselves, contrary 
to Christ ; and this faith is imperfect ; so that true be- 
lievers have cause to pray to God to help their unbe- 
lief, Mark ix. 24. Therefore, though we receive a per- 
fect Christ by faith, yet the measure and degree of 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATIOX. 21 7 

enjoying Him is imperfect ; and we hope still, so long 
as we are in this world, to enjoy him in a higher degree 
of perfection than we have done. We are yet but 
w(!ak in Christ, 2 Cor. xiii. 4, children in comparison to 
the perfection we expect in another world, 1 Cor. xiii. 
10, 11, and we must grow still, till we come to the 
perfect man, Eph. iv. 13 ; and some are weaker babes 
than others, and have received Christ in so small a 
measure, that they may be accounted carnal rather than 
spiritual, 1 Cor. iii. 1. And, because all the blessings 
and perfections of our new state, as justification, the 
gift of the Spirit, and of the holy nature, and the adop- 
tion of children, are seated and treasured up in Christ, 
and joined with him inseparably, we can receive them 
no further than we receive Christ himself by faith; 
which we do in an imperfect measure and degree in. 
this life. The apostle Paul proposes himself as a pat- 
tern for all those that are perfect in the truth of grace 
to imitate ; and yet he professes, that he was not yet 
made so perfect, in the degree or measure of saving 
endowments, but that he still presses forward toward 
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
Christ Jesus, laboring still to apprehend and win Christ 
more perfectly, and to be found in Him, not having 
his own righteousness, but that which is of God by 
faith ; and to gain more experimental knowledge of 
Christ, and of the fellowship of his sufferings, and the 
power of his resurrection, being made conformable 
thereunto, Phil. iii. 8, 10, 14. Believers are justified 
already ; yet they wait for the hope of righteousness 
by faith, that is, for the full enjoyment of the right- 
eousness of Christ, Gal. v. 5. They have received but 
the first fruits of the Spirit, and must wait for a more 
full enjoyment of it. The Spirit witnesses now to them, 
that they are the children of God ; and yet they groan 
within themselves, waiting for more full enjoyment of 
adoption, Rom. viii. 23. Now, seeing the degree and 
measure of our reception and enjoyment of Christ, with 
19 



218 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

all the blessings of our new state in Him, is, in this life, 
imperfect, it follows clearly, that our contrary natural 
state, with its properties, remains still in us in some de- 
gree, and is not perfectly abolished ; so that all believ- 
ers in this world partake, in some degree, of these two 
contrary states. Believers have indeed put off the old 
man, and put on the new man, where Christ is all and 
in all, Col. hi. 10, 11 ; yet they are to put the old man 
off, and the new man on, more and more, because the 
old man still remains in a measure. They are said to 
be, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, because their be- 
ing in the Spirit is their best and lasting state ; as de- 
nominations are usually taken from the better part ; but 
yet the flesh is in them, and they find work enough to 
mortify the deeds of it, Rom. viii. 9, 13. 

Therefore several things which are contrary to each 
other, are frequently attributed to believers in the 
Scriptures, with respect to these two contrary states, 
wherein one place seems to contradict another; and 
yet both are true in divers respects. Thus, holy Paul 
says truly of himself, "I live, yet not I," Gal. ii. 20; 
because he lives to God by Christ living in him ; and 
yet, in another respect, according to his natural state, 
he did not live to God. Again, he professes that he 
was carnal, sold under sin ; and yet, on the contrary, 
that he allowed not sin, but hated it. He shows how 
both these were true, concerning himself, in divers re- 
spects. He says, " In me (that is, in my flesh) dwel- 
leth no good thing ; and I delight to do the will of 
God according to the inward man. With the mind I 
myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the 
law of sin," Rom. vii. 14, 15, 18, 22, 25. John says, 
"He that saith he hath no sin, deceiveth himself, and 
is a liar," 1 John, i. 8; and also that it is true, that 
*' Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for 
his seed, that is, Christ's, the new spiritual nature, 
remaineth in him : and he cannot sin, because he is 
born of God," 1 John iii. 9. It is true, that we are 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 219 

weak, and can do nothing, and yet strong and able to 
do all things, 2 Cor. xii. 10, 11, Phil. iv. 13. It is 
true, that believers are dead because of sin, but alive 
because of righteousness, Rom. viii. 10 ; and that when 
they die by a natural death, they shall never die, John 
xi. 25, 26. They are sons that have the inheritance by 
their birthright, and yet in some respects, may differ 
nothing from servants; and so they may be under the 
law, in a sense, and yet under grace, and heirs, accord- 
ing to the free promise, at the same time, Gal. iv. 1, 2. 
They are redeemed from the curse of the law, and have 
forgiveness of sins, and a promise, that God will never 
be wroth with them, nor rebuke them any more, Gal. 
iii. 13, Eph. i. 7, Isa. liv. 9 ; and yet, on the contrary, 
the curse written in the law is sometimes poured out 
upon them, Dan. ix. 11 ; and they have need still to 
pray, that God would deliver them from their guilti- 
ness, and forgive their debts, Ps. li. 14, Matt. vi. 12 ; 
and they may expect that God will punish them for all 
their iniquities, Amos iii. 2. These contrary things, as- 
serted concerning believers in Scripture, sufficiently 
manifest that they partake of two contrary states in 
this life. And this is a plain, easy, and ready way to 
reconcile these seeming contradictions, whatever other 
ways be used to reconcile some of them. And what 
reason is there to question that the old state remains in 
believers in some degree, seeing all sound Protestants 
acknowledge, that the sinful depravation and pollution 
of our natures, commonly called original sin, which is 
one principal part of this old state, remains in all as 
long as they live in this world ? Now, though some 
penal evils may be said to remain in us, yet we cannot 
suppose that this original pollution is continued in us 
as coi^idered in Christ, but as considered in our old 
state, derived from the first Adam. Therefore, the 
lirst sin of Adam is imputed, in some respect, even to 
those that are justified by faith ; and they remain, in a 
measure, as aforesaid, under the punishment and curse 



220 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

denounced, Gen. ii. 17 : "In the day thou eatest there- 
of, thou shalt surely die." And, on this account, the 
same original guilt and pollution is propagated to the 
children of believing parents, as well as others, by 
natural generation. And, if such a great and funda- 
mental part of the natural state continue in believers, 
as subjection to the guilt of the first sin and original 
corruption, which is one great part of the punishment 
and death threatened, and by which we are prone and 
inclined to all actual sins ; why should we not judge, 
that other parts of the same state likewise continue in 
them, as the guilt of their own actual sins, and subjec- 
tion to the wrath of God, and the curses and punish- 
ments denounced against them in the law ? And why 
should we not judge, that all the miseries of this life, 
and death itself, are inflicted, upon believers, at least in 
some respect, as punishments of sin? It may be ob- 
jected, that this doctrine of a twofold state of be- 
lievers in this life, derogates much from the perfection 
of our justification by Christ, and from the fulness of 
all the grace and spiritual blessings of Christ, and from 
the merits of His death, and the power of His Spirit ; 
and that it greatly diminishes the consolation of be- 
lievers in Christ. But it may be easily vindicated from 
this objection, if we understand it rightly ; for, not- 
withstanding this twofold state,4t still holds true, that 
believers, while they are on earth, have all perfections 
of spiritual blessings, justification, adoption, the gift of 
the Spirit, holiness, eternal life, and glory in and with 
Christ, Eph. i. 3. In the person of Christ, who is now 
in Heaven, the old man is perfectly crucified ; they are 
dead to sin, and to the law and its curse, and they are 
quickened together with Him, and raised up with Him, 
and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 
Eph. ii. 6. And believers in their own persons receive 
and enjoy by faith all these perfect spiritual blessings 
of Christ, as far as they receive and enjoy Christ him- 
self dwelling in them, and no further. Thus far they 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 221 

are in a new state, free from the guilt, pollution, and 
punishment of sin, and so from the wrath of God, and 
all miseries, and death itself, while they are in this 
world; yea, all the guilt, pollution, and punishment of 
sin, and all evils whatever which they are subject to 
according to their natural state, do them no harm ac- 
cording to this new state, but work for their good ; and 
are no evils, but rather advantages to them, tending to 
the destruction only of the flesh, and to the perfection 
of the new man in Christ. Yet it holds true also, 
that our reception and enjoyment of Christ himself, 
and all His perfections is but in an imperfect measure 
and degree, until faith be turned into heavenly vision, 
and fruition of Christ; and therefore our old sinful 
state, with the evils thereof, is not perfectly abolished 
during this life. The kingdom of heaven, or the 
grace of Christ within us, is like leaven in meal, which 
does not unite itself perfectly to the meal in an instant, 
but by degrees, until -the whole be leavened, Matt. xiii. 
33 ; or like the morning light, that expels darkness by 
degrees, shining more and more unto the perfect day, 
Prov. iv. 18. This cannot be justly accounted any der- 
ogation from the merits of Christ's death, or from the 
power of his Spirit, seeing Christ never intended to 
bring to pass, by his death, or by the power of his 
Spirit, that we should enjoy His spiritual blessings any 
further than we are in Him, and enjoy Him by faith ; 
or that we should be made holy or happy according to 
the flesh by a reformation of our natural state ; as has 
been shown. Neither does this diminish the consola- 
tion of believers in Christ; for thereby they may know 
that they have the perfection of grace and happiness 
in Christ, and that they enjoy it in this world, as far as 
they enjoy Christ himself by faith ; and that they shall 
enjoy it in a perfect measure, and be fully freed from 
their sinful and miserable state, when that frame of na- 
ture, which they received from the first Adam, is dis- 
solved by death. 

19* 



222 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

This instruction is very useful to frame our souls 
aright for the practice of holiness by those gospel prin- 
ciples and means alone that belong to our new state, 
which we are partakers of by faith in Christ. And 
thus it is easily vindicated from another great objection, 
wherein the Papists and Quakers do much triumph. 
They appeal to men's consciences to answer this ques- 
tion : Which doctrine is most likely to bring people to 
the practice of true godliness — theirs, which teaches, 
that perfect holiness may be attained in this life, or 
ours, which teaches, that it is impossible for us to keep 
the law perfectly, and to purge ourselves from all sin, 
as long as we live in this world, though we use our 
best endeavors ? They think that common reason will 
make the verdict pass for them against our doctrine, as 
that which discourages all endeavors for perfection, 
and hardens the hearts of people, to allow themselves 
in sin, because they cannot avoid it. But, on the con- 
trary, the doctrine of perfectionists hardens people, to 
allow themselves in sin, and to call evil good ; as the 
Papists account, that the concupiscence of the flesh 
against the spirit, is no sin, but rather good matter for 
the exercise of their virtues, because the most perfect 
in this life are not without it. It also discourages those 
who labor to get holiness in the right way, by faith in 
Christ, and makes them to think that they labor in 
vain, because they find themselves still sinful, and far 
from perfection, when they have done their best to at- 
tain it. It hinders our diligence in seeking holiness by 
those principles and means whereby only it can be 
found ; for who will be diligent and watchful to avoid 
walking according to his own carnal principles, if he 
think that his own carnal state, with its principles, is 
quite abolished, and is out of him, so that at present he 
is in no danger of walking according to them ? What- 
ever good works the doctrine of the perfectionists may 
serve to promote, I am sure it hinders a great part of 
that work which Christ would have us to be employed 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 223 

tn as long as we live in this world. We must know, 
that our old state, with its evil principles, continues still, 
in a measure, or else we shall not be fit for the great 
duties of confessing our sins, loathing ourselves for 
them, praying earnestly for the pardon of them, sor- 
rowing for them with a godly sorrow, accepting the 
punishment of our sins, and giving God the glory of his 
justice, and offering to Him the sacrifice of a broken 
and contrite spirit, being poor in spirit, working out 
our salvation with fear and trembling. Some have 
doubted, how it can consist with our justification by 
Christ, that we should be still liable to be punished for 
for our sins, and obliged to pray for the pardon of them; 
because they have not well considered the twofold state 
of believers in this life. And, except we know this, and 
keep it in mind, we shall never be fit to practise contin- 
ually the great duties that tend to the putting off the old 
man, and putting on the new man, and mortifying the 
deeds of the body by the Spirit ; praying continually, 
that God would renew a right spirit in us, and sanctify 
us throughout ; pressing forward to perfection, desir- 
ing the sincere milk of the word, and the enjoyment of 
other ordinances. Christ has appointed, that His church 
on earth should be employed in such works : and per- 
fectionists either do, or fain would account them need- 
less for them, and that they have no longer need of 
Christ himself, to be their spiritual physician and advo- 
cate with the Father, and the propitiation for their sins ; 
therefore they are not fit to be members of the church 
on earth, and never are likely to be members of the 
church in heaven, except they can make a ladder, and 
climb up thither before their time. 

2. Despair of purging the flesh or natural man of its 
sinful lusts and inclinations, and of practising holiness, 
by your willing and resolving to do the best in your 
power, and trusting in the grace of God and Christ to 
help you in such resolutions and endeavors : but rather 
resolve to trust on Christ, to work in you to will and to 



224 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

do by His own power, according to His own good pleas- 
ure. They who are convinced of their own sin and 
misery, commonly first think to tame the flesh, and tc 
subdue and root out its lusts, and to make their cor- 
rupt nature better, and inclined to holiness, by their 
struggling and wrestling with it ; and, if they can but; 
bring their hearts to a full purpose and resolution to dc 
the best that lies in them, they hope, that, by such a 
resolution, they shall be able to achieve great enter- 
prises in the conquest of their lusts, and the perform- 
ance of the most difficult duties. It is the great work 
of some zealous divines, in their preaching and writ- 
ings, to stir up people to this resolution, wherein they 
place the chief turning point from sin to godliness. 
And they think, that this is not contrary to the life of 
faith, because they trust on the grace of God through 
Christ, to help them in all such resolutions and endea- 
vors. Thus they endeavor to reform their old state, 
and to be made perfect in the flesh, instead of putting 
it off, and walking according to the new state in Christ. 
They trust on low carnal things for holiness, and 
upon the acts of their own will, their purposes, resolu- 
tions, and endeavors, instead of Christ ; and they trust 
on Christ, to help them in this carnal way ; whereas, 
true faith would teach them that they are nothing, and 
that they do but labor in vain. _ They may as well at- 
tempt to wash the Ethiopian white, as purge the flesh 
or natural man from its evil lusts, and make it pure and 
holy. It is desperately wicked, past all cure. It will 
unavoidably lust against the Spirit of God, even in the 
best saints on earth, Gal. v. 17. Its mind is enmity 
to the law of God, and neither is, nor can be subject 
to it, Rom. viii. 7. They that would cure it, and make 
it holy, by their own resolutions and endeavors, act 
quite contrary to the design of Christ's death ; for he 
died, not that the flesh, or old natural man, might be 
made holy ; but that it might be crucified, and destroy 
ed out of us, Rom. vi. 6 ; and that we might live to 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 225 

God, not to ourselves, or by any natural power of our 
own resolutions and endeavors, but by Christ living in 
us, and by His Spirit bringing forth the fruits of right- 
eousness in us, Gal. ii. 20, and v. 24, 25. Therefore we 
must be content to leave the natural man vile and wick- 
ed, as we found it, until it be utterly abolished by 
death ; though we must not allow its wickedness, but 
rather groan to be delivered from the body of this 
death ; thanking God that there is a deliverance through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Our way to mortify sinful af- 
fections and lusts, must be, not by purging them out of 
the flesh, but by putting off the flesh itself, and getting 
above into Christ by faith, and walking in that new na- 
ture that is by Him. Thus " the way of life is above 
to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath," 
Prov. xv. 24. Our willing, resolving, and endeavoring, 
must be, to do the best, not that lies in ourselves, or in 
our own power, but that Christ and the power of His 
Spirit shall be pleased to work in us : for in us, that is, 
in our flesh, " there dwelleth no good thing, " Rom. vii. 
18. We have great ground to trust in God and Christ 
for help in such resolutions and endeavors after holi- 
ness, as in things that are agreeable to the design of 
Christ in our redemption, and to the way of acting and 
living by faith. It is likely, that Peter sincerely re- 
solved to die with Christ, rather than to deny Him, and 
to do all that he could by his own power for that end ; 
but Christ made him quickly see the weakness and 
vanity of such resolutions. And we see by experience, 
what many resolutions made in sickness and other dan- 
gers mostly come to. It is not enough for us to trust 
on Christ, to help us to act and endeavor so far only as 
creatures ; for so the worst of men are helped : He is 
the JEHOVAH in whom they live, move, and have 
their being, Acts xvii. 28. And it is likely the Phari- 
see would trust on God, to help him in duty, as he 
would thank God for the performance of duty, Luke 
xviii. 1 1 . And this is all the faith that many make use 



226 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

of in order to a holy practice. But we must trust on 
Christ, to enable us, above the strength of our own natural 
power, by virtue of the new nature which we have in 
Christ, and by His Spirit dwelling and working in us ; or 
else our best endeavors will be altogether sinful, and mere 
hypocrisy, notwithstanding all the help for which we 
trust upon Him. We must also take heed of depend- 
ing for holiness upon any resolution to walk in Christ, 
or any written covenants, or any holiness that we have 
already received ; for we must know, that the virtue of 
these things continues no longer than we continue 
walking in Christ, and Christ in us. They must be 
kept up by the continual presence of Christ in us ; as 
light is maintained by the presence of the sun, and can- 
not subsist without it. 

3. You must not seek to procure forgiveness of sins, 
the favor of God, a new holy nature, life, and happi- 
ness, by any works of the moral law, or by any rites 
and ceremonies whatever ; but rather you must work 
as those that have all these things already, according 
to your new state in Christ; as such who are only to 
receive them more and more by faith, as they are 
ready prepared and treasured up for you, and freely 
given to you, in your spiritual head, the Lord Jesus 
Christ. If we walk as those that are yet wholly to 
seek for the procurement of sucli enjoyments as these, 
it is a manifest sign, that, at present, we judge our- 
selves to be without them, and without Christ himself, 
in whose fulness they are all contained : and therefore 
we walk according to our old natural state, as those 
who are yet in the flesh, and who would get salvation 
in it, and by our carnal works and observances, instead 
of living altogether on Christ by faith. This practice 
is according to the tenor of the covenant of works ; as 
I have before showed. And we have no ground to 
trust on Chiist and His Spirit, to work holiness in us 
this way ; for we are dead to the legal covenant by the 
body of Christ, Rom. vii. 4 ; and "if we be led by the 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 227 

Spirit, we are not under the law," Gal. v. 18. When 
the Galatians were seduced by false teachers, to seek 
the procurement of justification and life by circumcis- 
ion, and other works of the Mosaical law, the Apostle 
Paul rebukes them for seeking to be made perfect in 
the flesh, directly contrary to their good beginning in 
the Spirit, for rendering Christ of none effect to them, 
and for falling from grace, Gal. iii. 3, and v. 4. And, 
when some of the Colossians sought perfection in the 
like manner, by the observance of circumcision, holy 
meats, holy times, and other rudiments of the world, 
the same Apostle blamed them for not holding the 
head Jesus Christ, and as not being dead and risen with 
Christ, but living merely in the world, Col. ii. 19, 20, 
and iii. 1. He clearly showed, that those who seek 
any saving enjoyments in such a way, walk according 
to their old natural state ; and that the true manner 
of living by faith in Christ, is, to walk as those that 
have all fulness and perfection of spiritual blessings in 
Christ by faith, and need not seek for any other way 
to procure them for themselves. In this sense it is a 
true saying ; that believers should not act for life, but 
from life. They must act as those that are not pro- 
curing life by their works, but who have already re- 
ceived and derived life from Christ, and act from the 
power and virtue received from Him. And hereby 
it appears, that the Papists, and all others that think 
to justify, purify, sanctify, and save themselves by any 
of their own works, rites, or ceremonies whatever, 
walk in a carnal way, as those that are without any 
present interest in Christ, and shall never attain to 
holiness or happiness, until they learn a better way of 
religion. 

4. Think not, that you can effectually incline your 
heart to the immediate practice of holiness, by any 
such practical principles, as only serve to bind, press, 
and urge you to the performance of holy duties ; but, 
rather let such principles stir you up, to go to Christ 



228 THE GOSPIL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

first by faith, that you may be effectually inclined to 
the immediate practice of holiness in Him by gospel 
principles, that strengthen and enable you, as well as 
oblige you thereto. There are some practical prin- 
ciples, that only bind, press, and urge us to holy duties. 
by showing the reasonableness, equity, and necessity 
of our obedience, without showing at all, how we that 
are by nature dead in sin, under the wrath of God, 
may have any strength and ability for the performance 
of them : as, for instance, the authority of God the 
lawgiver ; our absolute dependence on Him as our 
Creator, Preserver, Governor, in whose hand is our 
life, breath, and all our happiness here and forever ; 
His all-seeing eye, that searches our heart, discerns our 
very thoughts and secret purposes ; His exact justice, 
in rendering to all according to their works ; His al- 
mighty and eternal power, to reward those that obey 
Him, and to punish transgressors forever; the unspeak- 
able joy of heaven, and the terrible damnation of hell. 
Such principles as these bind our consciences very 
strictly, and work very strongly upon the prevalent 
affections of hope and fear, to press and urge our 
hearts to the performance of holy duties, if we believe 
them assuredly, and work them earnestly upon our 
hearts, by frequent, serious, lively meditation. And, 
therefore, some account them^the most forcible and 
effectual means to form any virtue in the soul, and to 
bring it to immediate performance of any duty, how- 
ever difficult ; and that the life of faith consists prin- 
cipally in our living to God in holiness, by a constant 
belief and meditation on them. And they account 
those things that serve to remind them of such prin- 
ciples, very effectual for holiness ; as, looking on the 
picture of death, or on a death's-head ; keeping a coffin 
by them ready made ; walking about among the graves, 
&c. But this is not that manner of living to God of 
which the Apostle speaks, when he says, " I live, yet 
not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 229 

live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
who loved me, and gave Himself for me," Gal. ii. 20. 
If a man make use of these impelling principles, to 
stir him to go to Christ for strength to act bodily, he 
walks like one that has received Christ as his only life 
by faith : otherwise he walks like other natural men. 
For the natural man may be brought to act by these 
principles, partly by natural light, and more fully by 
Scripture light, without any true knowledge of the 
way of salvation by Christ, and as if Christ had never 
come into the world. And he may be strictly bound 
by them, and vehemently urged and pressed to holy 
duties ; and yet, all this while, is left to his own natural 
strength, or rather weakness, being not assured by any 
of these principles that God would give him strength 
to help him in the performance of these duties ; and 
can do nothing aright, until he get new life and strength 
by Christ, by a more precious, saving faith. There 
would be no need of a new life and strength by Christ, 
if these principles were sufficient to bring us to a holy 
conversation. Therefore this manner of practice is no 
better than walking after the flesh, according to our 
corrupt state, and seeking to be made perfect in the 
flesh. No question but Paul was very diligent in it 
while he was a blind Pharisee. Yea, the heathen phi- 
losophers might attain to it, in some measure, by the 
light of common reason. The devils have such prin- 
ciples, as they believe assuredly : yet they are never 
the better for them. It is a part of the natural wisdom 
whereby the world knew not God, not that wisdom 
of God in a mystery, discovered in the Gospel, which 
is the only satisfying wisdom and power of God unto 
salvation. What can you produce by corruption, by 
pressing with motives to holiness, one who has no sound- 
ness in him, from the sole of the foot, even to the 
head, only wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores. 
He that is made truly sensible of his own vileness and 
deadness by nature, will despair of ever bringing him- 
20 



230 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

self to holiness by principles that afford him no life and 
strength, but only lay an obligation upon him, and urge 
and press him to duty. What are mere obligations 
to one that is dead in sin ? While the soul is without 
spiritual life, sin is the more moved and enraged by 
pressing and urging upon the soul the obligations of 
the law, and its commands. " The motions of sin are 
by the law ; and sin taking occasion by the command- 
ment, worketh in us all manner of concupiscence," 
Rom. vii. 5, 8. And yet these impelling principles are 
very good and excellent in the right gospel use of 
them ; as the Apostle says of the law, that it is good, 
if it be used lawfully, 1 Tim. i. 8. The humbled sinner 
knows well his obligations ; but it is life and strength 
that he wants, and he despairs of walking according to 
such obligations, until he get this life and strength by 
faith in Christ. Therefore these obligatory principles 
move him to go, in the first place, to Christ, that so he 
may be enabled to answer their end, by the strength- 
ening and enlivening principles of God's grace in Christ. 
Some there are that make use of gospel principles, 
only to oblige and urge to duty, without affording any 
life and strength for the performance ; as they that 
think that Christ died and rose again to establish a 
new covenant of works for our salvation, and to give 
us a pattern of good works -%-y his own obedience, 
rather than to purchase life, obedience, and good 
works for us. Such as these do not understand and 
receive the principles of the Gospel rightly ; but they 
pervert and abuse them, contrary to their true nature 
and design ; and thereby render them as ineffectual for 
their sanctification, as any other natural or legal prin- 
ciples. 

5. Stir up and strengthen yourself, to perform the 
duties of holiness, by a firm persuasion of your en- 
joyment of Jesus Christ, and of all spiritual and ever- 
lasting benefits through Him. Set not yourselves up- 
on the performance of the law, with any prevailing 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 231 

thoughts or apprehensions, that you are yet without 
an interest in Christ, aud in the love of God through 
Him ; under the curse of the law, the power of sin and 
Satan, having no better portion than this present world ; 
no better strength, than that which is in the purposes 
and resolutions of your own free will. While such 
thoughts as these prevail, and influence your actions, it 
is evident, that you walk according to the principles 
and practices of your old natural state ; and you will 
be moved thereby, to yield to the dominion of sin and 
Satan, to withdraw yourselves from God and godliness, 
as Adam was moved, from the sight of his own naked- 
ness, to hide himself from God, Gen. iii. 10. There- 
fore your way to a holy practice, is, first to conquer 
and expel such unbelieving thoughts, by trusting con- 
fidently on Christ, and persuading yourselves by faith, 
that His righteousness, Spirit, glory, and all His spirit- 
ual benefits, are yours; and that He dwells in you, 
and you in Him. In the might of this confidence, you 
shall go forth to the performance of the law ; and you 
will be strong against sin and Satan, and able to do 
all things through Christ who strengthens you. This 
confident persuasion is of great necessity to the right 
framing and disposing our hearts to walk according to 
our new state in Christ. The life of faith principally 
consists in it. And herein it eminently appears, that 
faith is a hand, not only to receive Christ, but also to 
work by Him ; and that it cannot be effectual for our 
sanctification, except it contain in it some assurance of 
our interest in Christ; as has been showed. Thus we 
act as those that are above the sphere of nature, advanced 
to union and fellowship with Christ. The Apostle 
maintained in his heart a persuasion that Christ had 
loved him, and given Himself for him ; and hereby he 
was enabled to live to God in holiness, through Christ 
living in him by faith. He teaches us also, that we 
must maintain the like persuasion, if we would walk 
holily in Christ. We must know, that our old man is 



232 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

crucified with Him : and we must reckon ourselves 
dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus 
Christ our Lord, Rom. vi. 6, 11. This is the means 
whereby we may be filled with the Spirit, strong in the 
Lord, and in the power of His might ; which God 
would not require of us, if He had not appointed the 
means, Eph. vi. 20. Christ himself walked in a con- 
stant persuasion of His excellent state ; He set the Lord 
always before him, and was persuaded that, because 
God was at His right hand, he should not be moved, 
Ps. xvi. 8. How should it be rationally expected, that 
a man should act according to this new state, without 
assurance that he is in it ? It is a rule of common pru- 
dence in all worldly callings and conditions, that every 
one must know and well consider his own state, lest he 
should act proudly above it, or sordidly below it. And 
it is a hard thing to bring some to a right estimate of 
their own worldly condition. If the same rule were ob- 
served in spiritual things, doubtless the knowledge and 
persuasion of the glory and excellency of our new state 
in Christ, would more elevate the hearts of believers 
above all sordid slavery to their lusts, and enlarge them 
to run cheerfully in the way of God's commandments. 
If Christians knew their own strength better, they 
w r ould undertake greater things for the glory of God. 
But this knowledge is with difficulty attained ; it is only 
by faith and spiritual illumination. The best know but 
in part ; and hence it is, that the conversation of be- 
lievers falls so much below their holy and heavenly 
calling. 

6. Consider what endowments, privileges, or proper- 
ties of your new state are most proper and forcible to 
incline and strengthen your heart to love God above 
all, and to renounce all sin, and to give up your- 
self to universal obedience to His commands : and 
strive to walk in the persuasion of them, that you may 
attain to the practice of these great duties. I may well 
join these together, because, to love the Lord with all 






XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 233 

our heart, might, and soul, is the first and great com- 
mandment, which influences us to all obedience, with a 
hatred and detestation of all sin, as it is contrary and 
hateful to God. The same effectual means that pro- 
duces the one, will also produce the other ; and holi- 
ness chiefly consists in these. So, the chief blessings 
of our holy state are most meet and forcible to enable 
us for the immediate performance of them, and are to 
be made use of to this end by faith. Particularly, you 
must believe steadfastly, that all your sins are blotted 
out, and that you are reconciled to God, and have ac- 
cess into His favor by the blood of Christ, and that He 
is your God and Father, and altogether love to you, 
and your all-sufficient everlasting portion and happiness 
through Christ. Such apprehensions as these, present 
God as a very lovely object to our hearts, and thereby 
allure and win our affections, that cannot be forced by 
commands or threatenings, but must be sweetly won 
and drawn by allurements. We must not harbor any 
suspicions that God would prove a terrible, everlasting 
enemy to us, if we would love Him ; for there is no 
fear in love ; but perfect love love casteth out fear ; be- 
cause fear hath torment : he that feareth is not made 
perfect in love. We love Him, because He first loved 
us, 1 John iv. 18, 19. David loved the Lord, because 
he was persuaded, that He was his strength, rock, fort- 
ress, his God, and the horn of his salvation, Ps. xviii. 
1, 2. Love that causes obedience to the law, must 
proceed from a good conscience purged from sin ; and 
this good conscience must proceed from faith unfeign- 
ed, whereby we apprehend the remission of our sins, 
and our reconciliation with God by the merits of the 
blood of Christ, 1 Tim. i. 5, Heb. ix. 14. For the same 
end, that your hearts may be rightly fitted and framed 
for the performance of these principal duties, the Holy 
Scripture directs you to walk in the persuasion of other 
principal endowments of your new state ; as that you 
" have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son 
20* 



234 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

Jesus Chris t," 1 John i. 3 ; that you are the temple of 
the living God, 2 Cor. vi. 16 ; that you live by the 
Spirit, Gal. v. 25 ; that you are called to " holiness, and 
created in Christ Jesus unto good works ; that God 
would sanctify you wholly and make you perfect in 
holiness at the last," 1 Thess.v. 23, Eph. ii. 10; "that 
your old man is crucified with Christ ;" and through 
Him " you are dead unto sin, and alive unto God ; and 
being made free from sin, you are become the servants 
of righteousness, and have your fruit unto holiness, and 
the end everlasting life," Rom. vi. 6, 22. " Ye are dead, 
and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ 
who is your life shall appear, then shall ye appear with 
Him in glory," Col. iii. 3, 4. Such persuasions as these, 
when they are deeply rooted and constantly maintained 
in our hearts, strongly arm and encourage us to prac- 
tise universal obedience, in opposition to every sinful 
lust; because we look upon it, not only as our duty, 
but our great privilege, to do all things through Christ 
strengthening us ; and God certainly works in us both 
to will and to do by these principles, because they 
properly belong to the Gospel, or New Testament, 
which is the ministration of the Spirit, and the power 
of God unto salvation, 2 Col. iii. 6, 8, Rom. i. 16. 

7. For the performance of other duties of the law, 
you are to consider, not only these endowments, privi- 
leges, and properties of your new state, which are meet 
and forcible to enable you to the love of God, and uni- 
versal obedience, but also those that have a peculiar 
force and aptitude suitable to the special nature of such 
duties ; and you must endeavor to assure yourselves of 
them by faith, that you may be encouraged and strength- 
ened to perform the duties. I shall give you some in- 
stances of this manner of practice in several duties, 
whereby you may better understand how to guide 
yourselves in the rest. And, as to the duties of the 
first table, if you would draw near to God in a duty 
of His worship with a true heart, you must do it in 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 235 

full assurance of faith concerning your enjoyment of 
Christ and His salvation. And would you perform the 
great duty of trusting on the Lord with all your heart, 
casting your care upon Him, and committing the dis- 
posal of yourself to Him in all your concerns ? per- 
suade yourself through Christ, that God, according to 
His promise, will never fail you nor forsake you ; that 
He takes a fatherly care of you ; that He will withhold 
no good thing from you ; and will make all things to work 
for your good. And thus you will be strong and cou- 
rageous in the practice of this duty ; whereas, if you 
live in a mere suspense concerning your interest in the 
privileges, you will be subject to carnal fears, and cark- 
ing cares, in despite of your heart; and you will be 
prone to trust on the arm of flesh, though your con- 
science tell you plainly, that, in so doing, you incur the 
heinous guilt of idolatry. Would you be strengthened 
to submit to the hand of God with a cheerful patience, 
in bearing any affliction, and death itself? the way to 
fortify yourselves, is, to believe assuredly, that your 
afflictions which are but for a moment, work out for 
you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; 
that Christ is your gain in death and life; that His 
grace is sufficient for you, and His strength made per- 
fect in your weakness ; and that He will not suffer you 
to be tempted above that you are able ; and will at 
last make you more than conquerors over all evil. Un- 
til you attain to such persuasions as these, you will be 
prone to fret and murmur under the burden of affliction, 
and to use indirect means to deliver yourselves, not- 
withstanding the clearest convictions to the contrary. 
Would you limit yourselves to the observance of God's 
own institutions in His worship ? believe that you are 
complete in Christ, and have all perfection of spiritual 
blessings in Him ; and that God will build you up in 
Christ by the ordinances of His own appointment. This 
will make you account His ordinances sufficient, and 
men's traditions and inventions needless in the worship 

18 



236 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

of God ; whereas, if you do not apprehend all fulness 
in Christ, you will be like the Papists, prone to catch 
at every straw, and to multiply superstitious observances 
without end, for the supply of your spiritual wants. 
Would you confess your sins to God, pray to Him, 
and praise Him heartily for His benefits? would you 
praise Him for affliction, as well as prosperity ? believe 
assuredly, that God is faithful and just to forgive your 
sin through Christ ; that you are made a holy priest- 
hood, to offer spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praises, 
that are acceptable to God through Christ ; and that 
God hears your prayers, and will fulfil them, so far as 
they are good for you ; and that all God's ways are 
mercy and truth toward you, whether He prosper or 
afflict you in this life. If you be altogether in doubt, 
or otherwise persuaded, concerning these privileges, 
all your confessions, prayers, and praises will be but 
heartless lip -labors, slavish or pharisaical works. In 
like manner, you will be enabled to hear and receive 
the word as the word of God, and to meditate on it 
with delight ; and you will be willing to know the strict- 
ness and spirituality of the commands of God, and to 
try and examine your ways impartially by them, if you 
believe assuredly that the word is the power of God 
unto salvation ; and that Christ is your great Physician, 
willing and able to heal you, be the case ever so bad ; 
and, where }'our sin abounds, Hilf grace towards you 
doth so much the more abound : whereas, without 
these comfortable apprehensions, all the works of hear- 
ing, meditation, self-examination, will be but uncouth, 
heartless works, and they will be performed negligently, 
and by halves, or hypocritically, and out of slavish 
fear, with much reluctance, without any good- will, or 
readiness of mind. So also, for the right receiving 
the sacraments, you will find yourself much strength- 
ened by believing that you may have communion 
with God and Christ in them, and that you have a 
great High Priest to bear the iniquity of your holy 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 23? 

things, and to make you forever accepted before the 
Lord. 

In the same way you are to apply yourselves to all 
duties towards your neighbor, required in the second 
table of the law, by acting in a persuasion of such 
privileges of your new state as have a peculiar force to 
encourage and strengthen you for the performance of 
them. That you may love your neighbor as yourself, 
and do to him in all things as you would he should do 
to you, without partiality and self-seeking; that you 
may give him his due honor, and abstain from injuring 
him in his life, chastity, worldly estate, or good name, 
or from coveting anything that is his, according to the 
several commands in the second table of the decalogue 
you must walk in a persuasion, not only that these 
things are just and equitable toward your fellow-crea- 
tures, and that you are strictly bound to the perform- 
ance of them ; but that they are the will of your heav- 
enly Father, who has begotten you according to His 
own image in righteousness and true holiness, and has 
given you His Spirit, that you may be like-minded to 
Him in all things ; and that they are the mind of Christ 
who dwelleth in you, and you in Him ; that God and 
Christ are kind, tender-hearted, long-suffering, full of 
goodness to men, whether good or bad, friends or ene- 
mies, poor or rich ; and that Christ came into the world 
not to destroy but to save ; and that you are of the 
same spirit; that the injuries done to you by your 
neighbors, can do you no harm ; and you need not seek 
any good for yourselves by injuring them, because you 
have all desirable happiness in Christ ; and all things, 
though intended by your enemies for your hurt, cer- 
tainly work for your good through Christ. Such ap- 
prehensions as these, wrought in us by the spirit of 
faith, certainly beget in us a right frame of spirit, 
thoroughly furnished for every good work toward our 
neighbor. Likewise, your hearts will be purified to 
unfeigned love of the brethren in Christ, and you will 



238 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [dIKECT. 

walk toward them with all lowliness, meekness, long- 
suffering, forbearing one another in love, if you main- 
tain a steadfast belief and persuasion of those manifold 
bonds of love whereby you are inseparably joined with 
them through Christ ; as particularly, that there is one 
body and one spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, 
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who 
is above all, and through all, and in you all. Finally, 
you will be able to abstain from all fleshly and worldly 
lusts, that war against the soul, and hinder all godli- 
ness, by an assured persuasion, not merely, that glut- 
tony, drunkenness, lechery, are filthy, swinish abomina- 
tions ; and that the pleasures, profits, and honors of 
the world, are vain, empty things ; but that you are 
crucified to the flesh and the world, and are quickened 
and raised, and sit in heavenly places together with 
Christ ; and that you have pleasures, profits, and hon- 
ors in Christ, to which the best things in the world are 
not worthy to be compared ; and that you are members 
of Christ, the temple of His Spirit, citizens of heaven, 
children of the day, not of the night, nor of darkness, 
so that it is below your state and dignity to practise 
deeds of darkness, and to mind fleshly, worldly things. 
Thus I have given instances enough, to stir you up to 
acquaint yourself with the manifold endowments, privi- 
leges, and properties of your new state in Christ, as they 
are discovered in the gospel of your salvation, whereby 
the new nature is fitted for holy operations ; as the 
common nature of man is furnished with the endow- 
ments necessary for those functions and operations to 
which it is designed : and also to stir you up, to make 
use of them by faith, as they serve to strengthen you 
either for universal obedience, or for particular duties. 
And, by this manner of walking, your hearts will be 
comforted, and established in every good word and 
work; and you will grow in holiness, until you attain 
to perfection in Jesus Christ. 

8. If you endeavor to grow in grace, and in all holi- 



XII.] OF SANCTIFICATION-. 239 

ness, trust assuredly that God will enable you, by this 
manner of walking, to do everything that is necessary 
for His glory, and your own everlasting salvation ; and 
that He will graciously accept of that obedience through 
Christ, which you are enabled to perform according to 
the measure of your faith, and will pardon your fail- 
ings, though you offend in many things, and fall short 
of many others, as to degrees of holiness and high 
acts of obedience. And, therefore, attempt not the 
performance of duty in any other way, though you can- 
not yet do as much as you would in this way. This is 
a necessary instruction to establish us in the life of 
faith, that the sense of our manifold failings and defects 
may not move us, either to despair, or to return to the 
use of carnal principles and means for help against our 
corruptions, as accounting this way of living and act- 
ing by faith to be insufficient for our sanctification and 
salvation. The apostle Paul exhorts the Galatians to 
walk in the Spirit, though the flesh lusts against the 
spirit, so that they cannot do the things that they would, 
Gal. v. 16, 17. We are to know, that though the law 
requires of us the utmost perfection of holiness, yet 
the Gospel makes an allowance for our weakness, and 
Christ is so meek and lowly in heart that he accepts 
of that which our weak faith can attain to by His 
grace, and does not exact or expect any more of us 
for His glory and our salvation, until we grow stronger 
in grace. God showed His great indulgence to his 
people under the Old Testament, that Moses, the law- 
giver, suffered them, because of the hardness of their 
hearts, to put away their wives, though from the be- 
ginning it was not so, Matt. xix. 8 ; and also in tolera- 
ting the customary practice of polygamy. Though 
Christ will not tolerate the continuance of such prac- 
tices in his church, since his Spirit is more plentifully 
poured forth under the Gospel; ye He is as forward as 
ever to bear with the failings of His weak saints that 
desire to obey Him sincerely. We have another in- 



240 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

stance of God's indulgence, more full to our present 
purpose, in His commanding that the fearful and faint- 
hearted should not be forced to enter into battle against 
their enemies, but suffered to return home to their 
houses ; though fighting in battle against their enemies, 
without fear and faint-hearted ness, was a duty that 
God did much exercise his people in at that time, 
Deut. xx. 3, 8. So, under the Gospel, though it be an 
eminent part of Christ's service, to endure the greatest 
fight of afflictions, and death itself courageously, for 
His name's sake ; yet if any be so weak in faith, that 
they have not sufficient courage to venture into the 
battle, no doubt but Christ allows them to make use 
of any honest means whereby they may escape the 
hands of persecutors, with safety to their holy profes- 
sion. He will accept them in this weaker kind of ser- 
vice, and will approve of them more than if they should 
hazard a denial of His name, by venturing themselves 
upon the trial of martyrdom, when they might have 
escaped it. Peter came off with sin and shame, by 
venturing beyond the measure of his faith, into the 
hands of his persecutors, when he went after Christ to 
the high priest's hall; whereas, he should rather have 
made use of that indulgent dismissal that Christ gave 
to him and the rest of his disciples : " Let these go 
their way," John xviii. 8. Christ deals with his peo- 
ple as a good careful shepherd, that will not overdrive 
his sheep : " He shall gather the lambs with his arms, 
and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead 
thqse that are with young," Isa. xl. 11. He would 
not have His disciples urged rigorously upon the duty 
of fasting, when their spirits were unfit for it ; because 
He knew that imposing duties above their strengh, is 
like putting a new piece of cloth into an old garment, 
and new wine into old bottles, which spoils all at last, 
Matt. ix. 14, 15, 16, 17. That precept of Solomon, 
"Be not righteous overmuch," Eccl. vii. 16, is very 
useful and necessary, if rightly understood. We are 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 241 

to beware of being too rigorous in exacting righteous- 
ness of ourselves and others, beyond the measure of 
faith and grace. Overdoing commonly proves undoing. 
Children that venture on their feet beyond their 
strength, have many a fall; and so have babes in 
Christ, when they venture unnecessarily upon such 
duties as are beyond the strength of their faith. We 
should be content at present to do the best that we 
can, according to the measure of the gift of Christ, 
though we know that others are enabled to do much 
better ; and we are not to despise the day of small 
things, but to praise God that He works in us anything 
that is well pleasing in His sight, hoping that He will 
sanctify us throughout, and bring us at last to perfec- 
tion of holiness through Jesus Christ our Lord. And 
we should carefully observe in all things that good les- 
ion of the Apostle, " Not to think of ourselves more 
highly than we ought to think ; but to think soberly, 
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure 
of faith," Rom. xii. 3. 



DIRECTION XIII. 



Endeavor diligently to make the right use of any means ap- 
pointed in the word of God, for the obtaining and practising holi- 
ness, only in this way of believing in Christ, and walking in Him, 
according to your new state by faith. 

EXPLICATION. 

This might have been added to the instructions in 
the explication of the former direction, because its use 
is the same to guide us in the mysterious manner of 
practising holiness in Christ, by the life of faith ; but 
♦he weight and comprehensiveness of it, makes it 
21 



242 *flE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

worthy to be treated of by itself, as a distinct direc- 
tion. Two things are observable in it. 

First, That, though all holiness be effectually at- 
tained by the life of faith in Christ, yet the use of any 
means appointed in the word for attaining and pro- 
moting holiness, is not hereby made void, but rather 
established. This is needful to be observed against the 
pride and ignorance of some professors of the Gospel, 
who being puffed up with a conceit of their feigned 
faith, imagine themselves to be in such a state of per- 
fection, that they are above all ordinances, except sing- 
ing hallelujahs ; and also against the Papists, who run 
into the contrary extreme by heaping together a mul- 
titude of means of holiness, which God never com- 
manded, neither ever came they into His heart, and 
who slander the Protestant doctrine of faith and free 
grace, as if it tended to destroy all diligent use of the 
means of holiness and salvation, and to breed up a 
company of lazy Solifidians. We indeed assert and 
profess, that a true and lively faith in Christ, is alone 
sufficient and effectual, through the grace of God, 
to receive Christ and all His fulness, so far as it is 
necessary in this life for our justification, sanctification, 
and eternal salvation ; but yet we also assert and pro- 
fess, that several means are appointed of God for be- 
getting, maintaining and increasing this faith, and act- 
ing and exercising it, in order to the attainment of its 
end ; and that these means are to be used diligently, 
which are mentioned in the sequel. True believers find 
by experience, that their faith needs such helps ; and 
they who think themselves above any need of them, 
reject the counsel of God against themselves, like those 
proud Pharisees and lawyers, who thought it a thing 
beneath them, and refused to be baptized of John, Luke 
vii. 30. Yet we account no means necessary or lawful 
to be used for the attainment of holiness, besides those 
that are appointed by God in his word. We know 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 

that holiness is a part of our salvation ; and therefore, 
they who think men may or can invent any means ef 
fectually for the attainment of it, ascribe their salvation 
partly to men and rob God of His glory in being our 
only Saviour ; and they thereby plainly show, that 
though they " draw nigh unto God with their mouth, 
and honor Him with their lips ; yet their hearts are 
far from Him. And in vain do they worship Him, teach- 
ing for doctrines the commandments of men," Matt. xv. 
7, 8, 9. 

The second thing observable, and principally de- 
signed in this direction is, " the right manner of using 
all the means of holiness, " for the obtaining and prac- 
tising it in no other way besides that of believing in 
Christ, and walking in Him according to our new state 
by faith ; which has been already demonstrated to be 
the only way whereby we may effectually attain to 
this great end. We must use them as helps to the life 
of faith, in its beginning, continuance and growth ; and 
as instruments subservient to faith, the principal instru- 
ment, in all hs acts and exercises, whereby the soul 
receives Chri- 1 and walks in all holiness by Him. We 
must beware, lest we rather use them in opposition 
than in subordination to the way of sanctification and 
salvation by free grace in Christ, through faith ; and 
lest, by our abuse of them, they be made rather hin- 
derances than helps to our faith. We must not idolize 
any of the means, and put them in the place of 
Christ, as the Papists do, by trusting in them ; as if 
they were effectual to confer grace on the soul, by the 
work that is done in the use of them. Neither may 
we use them as works of righteousness, to be performed 
as conditions for procuring the favor of God, and the 
salvation of Christ. Neither must they be accounted 
so absolutely necessary to salvation ; as if a true faith 
were void and of none effect, when we are debarred from 
the enjoyment of several of them. The Holy Scrip- 



244 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

tures, with all the means of grace appointed therein, 
are able to make us wise unto salvation, no other way 
than by faith in Jesus Christ, 2 Tim. iii. 15. And 
therefore our wise endeavor must be, not to use them in 
any opposition to the grace of God in Christ. For God's 
ordinances are like the cherubim of glory, made with 
their faces looking towards the mercy-seat. They are 
made to guide us to Christ for salvation by faith alone. 
If any turn them to another use, it is a great violation 
of divine institutions : as if any sacrilegious person had 
presumed to turn the faces of the cherubim from the 
mercy-seat some other way. This right use of the 
means of grace, is a point wherein many are ignorant, 
who use them with great zeal and diligence : and 
thereby they not only lose their labor, and the benefit 
of the means, but also they wrest and pervert them to 
their own destruction. The Jews under the law of 
Moses, enjoyed many more ordinances of divine worship 
than we do under the Gospel : but their table be- 
came their snare, and they fell miserably from God and 
Christ, because the " veil of ignorance was upon their 
hearts," that they could not look to the end of those 
ordinances, even to the Lord Jesus Christ ; and they 
sought not salvation by faith, but by the ordinances, as 
works of righteousness, and by others works of the 
law ; for " they stumbled at thestumbling stone," Rom. 
ix. 13, 32, and x. 4, 5 ; 2 Cor. iii. 13, 14. That you may 
not stumble and fall by the same pernicious error, I shall 
show particularly how several of the principal means 
of holiness appointed in the Word of God, are to be 
made use of in that right manner expressed in the direc- 
tion. 

1. We must endeavor diligently to know the word 
of God contained in the Holy Scripture, and to im- 
prove it to this end, that we may be made wise unto 
salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. 
iii. 15. Other means of salvation are necessary to the 
more abundant well-being of our faith, and of our new 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 245 

state in Christ ; but this is absolutely necessary to the 
very being thereof; because faith comes by hearing 
the word of God, and receives Christ as manifested 
by the word ; as I have before proved. 

Rahab, the Canaanite, was justified by faith, before 
she had any visible communion with the church in any of 
God's ordinances ; yet not without the word of God, 
even the same word, for substance, which was written in 
the Scriptures, and was then extant in the books of Moses; 
though that word was not brought to her by any book 
of holy Scripture, nor by the preaching of any holy min- 
ister, but by the report of the heathens, John ii. 9, 11. 
But here our great work must be, to get such a knowl- 
edge of the word, as is necessary and sufficient to guide 
us in receiving Christ, and walking in Him by faith. You 
must not be of their minds who think the knowl- 
edge of the ten commandments sufficient to salvation, 
or who would have mysteries to remain hid from the un- 
derstanding of the vulgar, and nothing to be preached 
to them but what they can readily assent to, and re- 
ceive by the light that is in all men : of which mind, it 
may be, some ministers are, who unwittingly agree with 
the Quakers in a fundamental point of their heresy. 
But you must endeavor chiefly, to know the mystery 
of the Father and the Son, as it is discovered in the 
Gospel, wherein are hid all treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge, Col. ii. 2,3, which to know is life eternal, and 
igorance of it is death eternal, John xviv. 8, 2 Cor. iv. 
8. You must know, that " Christ is the end of the 
law," Rom. x. 4 ; and therefore you must endeavor to 
know the commands of the law ; not that you may be 
enabled, by that knowledge, to practise them immediate- 
ly, and so to procure salvation by your works ; but 
rather that, by your knowledge of them, you may be 
made sensible of your inability to perform them, and 
of the enmity that is in your heart against them, and 
the wrath that you are under for breaking them, and 
the impossibility of being saved by your own works; 
21* 



246 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

that so you may fly to Christ for refuge, and trust only 
to the free grace of God for justification, and strength 
to fulfil the law acceptably through Christ in your con- 
versation. And, for this end, you must endeavor to 
learn the utmost strictness of the commands, the exact 
perfection and spiritual purity which they require, that 
you may be the more convinced of sin, and stirred up to 
seek unto Christ for remission of sin, for purity of heart, 
and spiritual obedience, and be brought nearer to the 
enjoyment of Him ; as Christ testifies, that the Scribe 
who understood the greatness of that command of 
"loving the Lord with all the heart and soul, was not 
far from the kingdom of God/' Matt. xii. 34. The most 
effectual knowledge for your salvation, is, to understand 
these two points ; the desperate sinfulness and misery 
of your own natural condition, and the alone sufficiency 
of the grace of God in Christ for your salvation ; that 
you may be abased as to the flesh/ and exalted in 
Christ alone. And, for the better understanding these 
two main points, you should learn how the first Adam 
was the figure of the second, Rom. v. 14; how sin and 
death came upon all the natural seed of the first Adam, 
by His disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit, and 
how righteousness and everlasting life come upon all the 
spiritual seed of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, by His 
obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. 
You also should learn the true^difterence between the 
two covenants, the old and the new, or the law and the 
Gospel ; that the former shuts us up under the guilt 
and power of sin, and the wrath of God and His curse, 
by its rigorous terms, — " Do all the commandments, 
and live ; and cursed are ye, if ye do them not, and 
fail in the least point ;" the latter (that is, the new cov- 
enant) opens the gates of righteousness and life to all 
believers by its gracious terms, " Believe in the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and live ;" that is, " All your sins shall 
be forgiven, and holiness and glory shall be given to 
you freely by His merit and Spirit." Furthermore, you 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATIOST. 247 

should learn the gospel principles that you are to walk 
by, for the attainment of holiness in Christ. And here 
I shall remind you particularly, that you would be a 
good proficient in Christian learning, if you get a good 
understanding of the sixth and seventh chapters of 
Paul's epistle to the Romans ; where the powerful 
principles of sanctification are purposely treated of, and 
distinguished from those weak and ineffectual principles, 
which we are most naturally prone to walk by. I need 
not particularly commend any other points of religion 
to your learning ; for, if you get the knowledge of these 
principal points, which I have mentioned, and improve 
it to a right end, which is, to live and walk by faith in 
Christ, your own renewed mind will covet the knowl- 
edge of all other things that appertain to life and god- 
liness ; and, if in anything you be otherwise minded 
than is according to saving truth, " God shall reveal 
even this unto you," Phil. iii. 15. Yet let me caution 
you, lest, instead of gaining Christ by your knowledge, 
you rather lose Him, by putting your knowledge in the 
place of Christ, and trusting on it for your salvation. 
One cause of the Jews perishing was, that they rested 
in a form of knowledge, and of the truth in the law, 
Rom. ii. 20. And, doubtless, all that many Christians 
will gain by their knowledge, in the end, will only be, 
to be beaten with more stripes; because they place 
their religion and salvation chiefly in the knowledge of 
their Lord's will, and in their ability to talk and dispute 
about it, without preparing themselves to do according 
thereto, Luke xii. 47. Much less are you to place your 
religion, and hope of salvation, in a daily task of read- 
ing chapters, or repeating sermons, without understand- 
ing more than the Papists do their lessons in the Latin^ 
mass, and canonical hours ; as sad experience shows, 
that many seemingly devout and frequent hearers of 
the word, do notwithstanding remain in lamentable and 
wonderful ignorance of the saving truth. And in them ' 
i§ fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias, " that in hearing, they 



248 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

shall hear, and not understand ; and, in seeing, they 
see," &c. Matt. xiii. 14, 15. 

2. Another means to be used diligently for the pro- 
moting the life of faith, is, examination of our state 
and ways according to the word ; whether we be, at 
present, in a state of sin and wrath, or of grace and 
salvation ; that, if we be in a state of sin, we may know 
our sickness, and come to the great Physician, while it 
is called to-day ; and, if we be in a state of grace, we 
may know that we are of the truth, and assure our 
hearts before God, with the greater confidence, by the 
testimony of a good conscience, 1 John hi. 19, 21 ; 
that so our hearts may be more strongly comforted by 
faith, and established in every good work; and that if 
our ways be evil, we may turn from them to the Lord 
our God through Christ: without whom none cometh 
to the Father, Lam. iii. 40, John xiv. 6. But your 
great care, in this work of self-examination, must be, 
to perform it in such a manner, that it may not hinder 
and destroy the life of faith, as it does in many, instead 
of promoting it. Therefore beware, lest you trust upon 
your self-examination, rather than upon Christ ; as 
some do, who thinks they have made their peace with 
God, merely because they have examined themselves 
upon their sick-bed, or before receiving the Lord's Sup- 
per, though they have found themselves destitute of 
holiness, and do not depend on^Christ, to make them 
better, but on their own deceitful purposes and resolu- 
tions. Think not, that you must begin this work with 
doubting whether God will extend mercy to you, and 
save you ; and that you must leave this a question 
wholly under debate, until you have found out how to 
resolve it by self-examination. 

This is a common and very pernicious error in the 
very foundation of this work, which is hereby laid in the 
great sin of unbelief; which, as soon as it prevails, does, 
by its great influence, dash and obscure all inward 
gracious qualifications of peace, hope, joy, love to God 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 249 

and His people, before they be at all tried, whether they 
can give any good evidence for their salvation. And 
it makes people willing to think their own qualifications 
better than they are, lest they should fall into an uttef 
despair of their salvation ; and thus it wholly mars the 
good work of self-examination, and makes it destruc- 
tive to our souls ; for to them that are defiled and unbe- 
lieving, there is nothing pure, Tit. i. 15. You should 
rather begin the work with much assurance of faith, 
that though you may at present find your heart ever 
so wicked and reprobate, (as many of God's choicest 
servants have found,) yet the door of mercy is open 
for you, and that God will certainly save you forever, 
if you put your trust in His grace through Christ. I 
have formerly showed, that this confident persuasion is 
of the mature of saving faith, and that we have suffi- 
cient ground for it in the free promises of the Gospel, 
when we walk in darkness, and can see no light shining 
forth in our gracious qualifications. If we begin the 
work with this confidence, it will make us impartial, 
and not afraid to find out the worst of ourselves, and 
willing to judge that our hearts are deceitful above all 
things, and desperately wicked, beyond what w r e can 
find out, Jer. xvii. 9. And, if we have any holy quali- 
fications, this confidence will preserve them in their 
vigor and brightness, that they may be able to give 
clear evidence, that we are at present in a state of 
grace. Mark well the difference between these two 
questions, whether God will graciously accept and save 
me, though a vile sinner, through Christ? as before 
was said ; and, whether I am already brought into a 
state of salvation ? The former of these, I say, is to be 
resolved affirmatively by a confident faith in Christ; 
the latter only is to be inquired into by self-examina- 
tion. Misspend not your time, as many do, in poring 
upon your hearts, to find whether you be good enough 
to trust on Christ for your salvation, or to find whether 
you have any faith, before you dare be so bold as to 



250 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

act faith in Christ. But know, that though you cannot 
find that you have any faith or holiness, yet, if you will 
now believe on Him that justifieth the ungodly, it shall 
be accounted to you for righteousness, Rom. iv. 5. And 
if you love Christ, and your own soul, misspend not 
your time in examining, whether you have committed 
the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, except it 
be with a full purpose, to assure yourself, more and 
more, that you are not guilty thereof ; for any doubt- 
fulness in this point, will but harden you in unbelief. 
Remember well, that the question to be resolved, is, 
whether you are at present in a state of grace ? and, to 
resolve it, you must be willing to know the best of your- 
self, as well as the worst ; and you must not think, that 
humility requires you to overlook your good qualifica- 
tions, and to take notice only of your corruptions. But 
your great work must be, to find whether there be not 
some drop of saving grace in the ocean of your corrup- 
tion. And it will consist well with humility, to take 
notice of, and own any spark of true holiness that is in 
you: because the praise and glory of it belongs not to 
you, but to God, Phil. i. 21. And you must try in- 
herent grace by the touchstone, not by the measure ; 
by its nature, not its degree ; not denying any lustings 
of the spirit in you, because of the strong lustings of 
the flesh against the spirit ; nor_denying that you are 
spiritual in some degree, and babes in Christ, because 
you find yourselves carnal in a more prevailing degree, 
and the old man bigger than the new, Gal. v. 17, 1 
Cor. ii. 1. Especially, you are to examine and prove, 
whether you be in the faith ? For, if you make sure 
of this, you make sure of all the things that pertain to 
life and godliness ; and, if you doubt of this, you will 
certainly doubt of the truth of any other qualifications, 
and will suspect them to be merely carnal and counter- 
feit ; because it is a known truth, that to the unbeliev- 
ing there is nothing pure, and that all who have not 
truly received Christ by faith, are at present in an un- 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 251 

regenerate state, though they seem ever so pure and 
godly, 2 Cor. xiii. 5, Tit. i. 5. And let not the issue 
of this trial depend at all upon your knowledge of the 
time when, or of the sermon, conference, or place of 
Scripture, by which you were first converted to tho 
faith ; though that is good to know too, if it may be. 
And some who have formerly lived in gross ignorance, 
or in a manifest opposition to true faith and holiness, 
may know such circumstances of their conversion, and 
may reflect upon them comfortably, as the apostle 
Paul did, who was turned of a sudden, from his perse- 
cuting rage, to be a disciple and apostle of Christ ; yet 
others, sincere believers, may be wholly ignorant of 
them, as John the Baptist, who was filled with the Holy 
Ghost from his mother's womb, Luke i. 5, and they 
that have been trained up religiously, and know the 
Holy Scripture from their childhood, as Timothy, 2 
Tim. iii. 15 ; yea, and many that are first turned from 
gross ignorance and profaneness, to some external ref- 
ormation, and then in process of time, brought nearer 
to the kingdom of heaven, by insensible degrees, before 
they be really new-begotten by the Spirit of faith. There 
are also some that deceive their souls, by imagining 
they know, at what time, and by what text of Scrip- 
ture, they were converted, and can make large dis- 
courses of the workings of God upon their hearts, and 
are prone to talk unseasonably, with vain glorying, of 
their own experiences ; when, at last, all their experi 
ences are not sufficient to evidence, that they ever at- 
tained to the least measure of true saving faith. 

Therefore, that we may not unjustly condemn oi 
justify our faith, by proceeding on insufficient evidences 
in its trial, our best way is, to examine it by the in- 
separable properties of a true saving faith, f by putting 
to ourselves such questions as these : Are we made 
thoroughly sensible of our sinfulness, and of the dead- 
ness and misery of our natural state, so as to despair 
absolutely of ever attaining to any righteousness, holi- 



252 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

ness, or true happiness, while we continue in it ? Are 
the eyes of our understanding enlightened, to see the 
excellency of Christ, and the alone sufficiency and all- 
sufficiency of His grace for our salvation ? Do we pre- 
fer the enjoyment of Him above all things, and desire 
it with our whole heart, as our only happiness, what- 
ever we may suffer for His sake ? Do we desire with 
our whole heart, to be delivered from the power and 
practice of sin, as well as from the wrath of God, and 
the pains of hell ? Do our hearts come to Christ, and 
lay hold on Him for salvation, by trusting on Him only, 
and endeavoring to trust on Him confidently, notwith- 
standing all fears and doubts that assault us ? If you 
find in yourself a faith that has these properties, 
though as small as a grain of mustard seed, and op- 
posed with much unbelief and manifold corruptions in 
your soul, you may conclude, that you are in a state of 
salvation at present, and that your remaining work is, 
to continue and grow in it more and more, and to walk 
worthy of it. You should also examine the fruits of 
your faith and try whether you can " show your faith 
by your works," as you are taught, JfcJi. ii. 18, that 
you may be sure not to be deceived in your judgment 
concerning it. And though it be true, as I have noted, 
that doubts concerning your faith will produce doubts 
concerning the sincerity of other qualifications that are 
fruits thereof; yet possibly yon may get such clear 
evidences of your sincerity, as may overcome and ex- 
pel all your doubts. And here you are not only to in- 
quire, whether your inclinations, purposes, affections, 
and actions, be materially good and holy ; but also, by 
what principles they are bred and influenced ; whether 
it be by slavish fears of hell, and mercenary hopes of 
getting heaven by your works, which are legal and car- 
nal principles that can never produce true holiness ; or 
by gospel principles, as by love to God, because God 
has loved you first, and to Christ, because He has died ; 
and by the hope of eternal life, as the free gift of God 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 253 

through Christ, and dependence on God, to sanctify 
you by His Spirit according to His promises. Remem- 
ber, that the New Testament is the ministration of the 
Spirit, 2 Cor. hi. 6 ; and the Spirit will sanctify us, not 
by legal, but by gospel principles. Take notice farther, 
that you need not trouble yourself, to. find out a mul- 
titude of marks and signs of true grace, if you can find 
a few good ones. Particularly, you may know that 
"you are passed from death to life, if you love the 
brethren," 1 Johniii. 14; that is, if you love all whom 
you can in charity judge to be true believers, and that 
because they are true believers, and for the truth's 
sake, that dwelleth in them. As Solomon discerned 
the true mother of the child, by her affection toward 
her child ; so the mother grace of faith may be dis- 
cerned by the love that it excites in us toward all true 
believers. To conclude this point, happy are you if 
you can find such evidence of the fruits of your faith, 
as may enable you to express your sincerity in these 
moderate terms, " Pray for us : for we trust we have a 
good conscience, in all things willing to live hones tly," 
Heb. xiii. 13. 

3. Meditation on the word of God is of very great 
use and advantage for the attainment and practice of 
holiness through faith in Christ. It is a duty by which 
the soul, as it were, feeds and ruminates upon the Word 
as its spiritual food, and digests it, and turns it into 
nourishment, whereby we are strengthened for every 
good work. Our souls are satisfied therewith, as with 
marrow and fatness, when we remember God upon our 
beds, and meditate on Him in the night watches, Psal. 
lxiii. 5, 6. The new nature may well be called the 
mind, Rom. vii. 25, because it lives and acts, by mind- 
ing and meditating on spiritual things. Therefore it is 
a duty to be practised, not only at some stated times, 
but all the day, Ps. cxix. 97, yea, day and night, Ps. 
i. 2, even in our ordinary employments at home and 
abroad. An habitual knowledge of the word will not 

22 



254 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

profit us, without an active consideration of it by fre- 
quent meditation. Some think, that much preaching 
of the word is not needful, where a people are already 
brought to the knowledge of those things that are ne- 
cessary to salvation. But they that are regenerated 
by the word, fand by experience, that their spiritual 
life is maintained and increased by often minding the 
same word: ana therefore, "as new-born babes, they 
desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow 
thereby," 1 Pet. ii. 2 ; and would, by the preachers, be 
put often in remembrance of the same things, that 
they may feed upon them by meditation, though they 
know them already, and are " established in the pres- 
ent truth/' 2 Pet. l. 12. But here our greatest skill 
and chief concern lies, in practising this duty in such 
a manner, as that it may be subservient, and not at all 
opposite to the life of faith. We must not rely upon 
the performance of a daily task of meditation, as a 
work of righteousness for the procurement of the favor 
of God, instead of relying on the righteousness of 
Christ ; as indeed we are prone to do, to catch at any 
straw, rather than to trust only on the free grace of 
God in Christ for our salvation. And the end of our 
meditation must not be mere speculation and knowledge 
of the truth, but rather the vigorous pressing it upon 
our consciences, and the stirrings up our hearts and af- 
fections to the practice of it. And, in stirring up our- 
selves to a holy practice, we must carefully observe, 
how far the several parts of the truth of God are pow- 
erful and effectual for the attainment of this end, that 
we may make use of them accordingly. We must not 
imagine, as too many do, yea, and some great mas- 
ters in the art of meditation, that we can bring our 
hearts effectually to the love of God and holiness, and 
can work strange alterations, and frame in our hearts 
any holy qualifications of virtue, merely by working in 
ourselves strong apprehensions of God's eternal power 
and Godhead, His sovereign authority, omniscience, 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION - . 255 

perfect holiness, exact justice, the equity of His law. 
and reasonableness of our obedience to it, the unspeak- 
able happiness prepared for the godly, and misery to 
the wicked, to all eternity. Meditation on such things 
as these, is indeed very useful to press upon our con- 
sciences the strictness of our obligation to holy duties. 
and to move us to go by faith to Christ, for life and 
strength to perform them. But, that we may receive 
this life and strength, whereby we are enabled for im- 
mediate performance, we must meditate believingly on 
Christ's saving benefits, as they are discovered in the 
Gospel ; which is the only doctrine which is the power 
of God to our salvation, and whereby the quickening 
Spirit is ministered to us, and that is able to build us 
up, and give us an inheritance among all them which 
are sanctified, Rom. i. 16, 2 Cor. iii. 6, Acts xx. 32. 
You must take special care to act faith in your medita- 
tion, and mix the word of God's grace with it, or else 
it will not profit you, Heb. iv. 2. And, if you set the 
loving-kindness of God frequently before your eyes, by 
meditating on it believingly, you will be strengthened 
to walk in the truth, Ps. xxvi. 3 ; and, by " beholding 
as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, you will be changed 
into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by 
the spirit of the Lord," 2 Cor. iii. 18. This kind of 
meditation is sweet, and delightful to those who are 
guided to it by the spirit of faith ; and it needs not the 
help of such artificial methods as the vulgar cannot 
easily learn. You may let your thoughts run in it at 
liberty, without confining them to any rules of method. 
You will find your souls much enlivened by it, and en- 
riched with the grace of God ; which cannot be effect- 
ed by any kind of meditation though it be ever so me- 
thodical, and curiously framed according to the rules 
of art. 

4. The sacrament of baptism must needs be of great 
use to promote the life of faith, if it be made use of 
according to its nature and institution : because it is a 



256 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

seal of the righteousness of faith, as circumcision was 
formerly, Rom. iv. 11. But then we must take heed 
of making it a seal of the contrary righteousness of 
works ; as the carnal Jews did, who sought to be justi- 
fied by the law of Moses ; and as many Christians do, 
who transform the new covenant into a covenant of 
works, requiring sincere obedience to all the laws of 
Christ, as the condition of our justification; into which 
new-devised covenant they think themselves to be en- 
tered by their baptism. I may say of baptism, thus 
perverted and abused, as the Apostle says of circum- 
cision, " Baptism verily profiteth, if thou keep the law ; 
but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy baptism is 
made no baptism," Rom. ii. 25. If thou be baptized, 
so long as thou continuest in the abuse of that holy or- 
dinance, " Christ shall profit you nothing ; Christ is 
become of none effect to you ; ye are fallen from grace," 
Gal. v. 2, 4. Beware also of making an idol of bap- 
tism, and putting it in the place of Christ; as the Pa- 
pists do, who hold, that it confers grace by the very 
work that is performed in the administration of it ; and 
as many ignorant people do, who trust rather on their 
baptism, than on Christ ; like the Pharisees, who placed 
their confidence on circumcision, and other external 
privileges, Phil. iii. 4, 5. We are to know, that God 
is not well pleased with many who are baptized, 1 Cor. 
x. 2, 5 ; and the time will come7 when He will punish 
the baptized with the unbaptized, as well as the cir- 
cumcised with the uncircumcised, Jer. ix. 25. Beware 
also of advancing baptism to an equal partnership with 
faith in your salvation ; as some do, who account all 
baptism null and void, besides that which is adminis- 
tered to persons grown up to years of discretion ; and 
they that refuse to be rebaptized at those years, are to 
be accounted aliens from the true church, from Christ 
and His salvation, notwithstanding all their faith in 
Christ. If the baptism of infants were null and void, 
yet the want of true baptism would be no damning 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICAriON. 257 

matter to those that are otherwise persuaded. Cir- 
cumcision was as necessary as baptism in its time ; and 
yet the Israelites omitted it for the space of forty years 
in the wilderness, without fearing that any should fall 
short of salvation for want of it. Josh. v. 6, 7. Many 
precious saints in the primitive times of persecution, 
have gone to heaven through a baptism of suffering for 
the name of Christ, before they had opportunity to be 
baptized with water. And, in those ancient times, 
when the custom of deferring baptism too much pre- 
vailed, we are not to think that none were in a state 
of salvation by faith in Christ who deferred that ordi- 
nance, or neglected it. Take notice further, that it is 
not sufficient to avoid the pernicious errors of those 
that pervert baptism, contrary to its institution; but 
you must be also diligent in improving it to the ends 
for which it was instituted. And here let me desire 
you to put the question seriously to your souls, What 
good use do you make of your baptism ? How often 
or seldom do you think upon it ? The vulgar sort of 
Christians, yea, it may be feared, many sincere con- 
verts, do so little think upon their own baptism, and 
study to make a due improvement of it, that it is of 
no more profit to their souls than if they never had 
been baptized ; yea, their sin is the more aggravated, 
by rendering such an ordinance of none effect to their 
souls through their own gross neglect. Though bap- 
tism be administered to us but once in our lives, yet we 
ought frequently to reflect upon it ; and upon all occa- 
sions to put the question to ourselves, Unto what were 
we baptized? Acts xix. 3. What does this ordinance 
seal ? what did it engage us to ? And accordingly we 
must stir up and strengthen ourselves by our baptism, 
to lay hold on the grace which it seals to us, and to 
fulfil its engagements. We should often remember, 
that we are made Christ's disciples by baptism, and 
engaged to hear Him, rather than Moses, and to believe 
on Him for our salvation ; as John baptized with the 
22* 



258 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

baptism of repentance, saying to the people, that they 
should believe on Him that should come after him, 
that is, on Christ Jesus. We should remember that 
our baptism sealed our putting on of Christ, and our 
being the children of God by faith in Christ, and our 
being no longer under the former schoolmaster, the 
law, Gal. iii. 25, 26, 27; and that it sealed to us the 
putting off the body of sin, and our burial and resur- 
rection with Christ by faith, and the forgiving of our 
trespasses, Col. ii. 12, 13, our being made members of 
one body, Christ, and to " drink into one Spirit," 1 Cor. 
xii. 12, 13. We may find by such things as these, 
which are more fully discovered in the Gospel, that it 
is the proper nature and tendency of baptism, to guide 
us to faith in Christ alone for remission of sins, holiness, 
and all salvation, by union and fellowship with Him ; 
and that a diligent improvement of this ordinance, must 
needs be of great advantage to the life of faith. 

5. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is as a spirit- 
ual feast to nourish our faith, and to strengthen us to 
walk in all holiness, by Christ living and working in us, 
if it be used according to the pattern which Christ 
gave us in its first institution, recorded by three Evan- 
gelists, Matt. xxvi. 26, 27, 28 ; Mark xiv. 22, 23, 24 ; 
Luke xxii. 19, 20; and was extraordinarily revealed 
from heaven by Christ himself to the apostle Paul, 1 
Cor. xi. 23, 24, 25 ; that we be the more obliged 
and stirred up to the exact observance of it. Its end 
is, not only that we may remember Christ's death in 
the history, but in the mystery of it ; as that His body 
was broken for us, that His blood is the blood of the 
New Testament or covenant shed for us, and for many, 
for the remission of sins ; that so we may receive and 
enjoy all the promises of the new covenant which are 
recorded, Heb. viii. 10, 11, 12. Its end is, to remind 
us, that Christ's body and blood are bread and drink, 
even all-sufficient food to nourish our souls to everlast- 
ing life ; and that we ought to take, and eat and drink 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 259 

Him by faith ; and to assure us, that, when we truly 
believe on Him, He is as really and closely united to 
us by His Spirit, as the food which we eat and drink is 
united to our bodies. Christ himself, John vi., more 
fully explains this mystery. Furthermore, this sacra- 
ment not only puts us in mind of the spiritual blessings 
wherewith we are blessed in Christ, and of our enjoy 
ment of them by faith, but also it is a mean and instru- 
ment, whereby God really exhibits and gives forth 
Christ and His salvation to true believers, and stirs up 
and strengthens believers, to receive and feed upon 
Christ by present actings of faith, while they partake 
of the outward elements. When Christ says, "Eat, 
drink ; this is my body, this is my blood, " no less can 
be meant, than that Christ does as truly give His body 
and blood to true believers in that ordinance, as the 
bread and cup ; and they do as truly receive it by faith. 
As if a prince invest a subject in some honorable office, 
by delivering to him a staff, sword, or signet ; and say 
to him, " Take this staff, sword, or signet ; this is such 
an office or preferment;" or if a father should deliver 
a deed for conveyance of land to his son, and say, 
" Take it as thy own ; this is such a farm or manor ;" 
how can such expressions import anything less, in com- 
mon sense and reason, than a present, gift, and con- 
veyance of the offices, preferments, and lands, by and 
with those outward signs ? 

Therefore the apostle Paul asserts, that the bread 
in the Lord's Supper, is the communion of the body of 
Christ, and the cup is the communion of His blood, 
1 Cor. x. 16, which shows, that Christ's body and blood 
are really communicated to us, and we really partake 
of them, as well as of the bread and cup. The chief 
excellence and advantage of this ordinance is, that it is 
not only a figure and resemblance of our living upon a 
crucified Saviour, but also a precious instrument, where- 
by Christ, the bread and drink of life, is really conveyed 
to us, and received by us through faith. This makes it a 



260 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

love-token, worthy of that ardent affection toward us 
which filled Christ's heart at the time when He instituted 
it, when He was on the point of finishing His greatest 
work of love, by laying down His life for us, 1 Cor. xi. 
23. And this is diligently to be observed, that we may 
make a right improvement of this ordinance, and re- 
ceive the saving benefits of it. One reason why many 
little esteem, and seldom or never partake of this or- 
dinance, and find little benefit by it, is because they 
falsely imagine, that God in it only holds forth naked 
signs and resemblances of Christ and His salvation, 
which they account to be held forth so plainly in Scrip- 
ture, that they need not the help of such a sign : where- 
as, if they understood, that God really gives Christ 
himself to their faith, by and with those signs and re- 
semblances, they would prize it as the most delicious 
feast, and be desirous to partake of it on all opportuni- 
ties, Acts ii. 42, and xx. 7. Another reason why many 
partake seldom or never of this ordinance, and know 
little of the benefit of it, is, because they think them- 
selves brought by it into great danger of eating and 
drinking their own damnation ; according to these ter- 
rifying words of the Apostle, "For he that eateth 
and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation 
to himself, not discerning the Lord's body/' 1 Cor. xi. 9. 
Therefore they account it the safest way, wholly to ab- 
stain from such a dangerous Ordinance, or, at least, 
that once a year is often enough to run so great a haz- 
ard. And, if they be brought to it sometimes by con- 
straint of conscience, their slavish fears deprive them 
of all comfortable fruit of it. So that instead of striv- 
ing to receive Christ and His salvation therein, they 
account themselves to have succeeded well if they come 
off without the sentence of damnation ; as the Jewish 
Rabbis write, that the high priest's life was so emi- 
nently hazarded by his entering once a year into the 
Holy of Holies, that he stayed there as little time as he 
could, lest the people should think him struck de^d b; 



• 



XIII.] OF SANCT.IFICATION. 261 

the hand of God ; and, when he was come forth alive, 
he usually made a fea<t of thanksgiving for joy of sg 
great a deliverance. But there is no reason why we 
should be so much terrified by those words of the 
Apostle ; for they were directed against such a gross 
profanation of the Lord's Supper among the Corin- 
thians, as we may easily avoid, by observing the institu- 
tion of it, which the Apostle proposes to them as a suf- 
ficient remedy against the gross abuse, in not discern- 
ing or distinguishing the Lord's body from other bodily 
food, and partaking of it as their own supper, with 
such disorder, that one was hungry, and another drunk- 
en. Besides, that terrifying word damnation, may be 
rendered more mildly judgment, as it is in the mar- 
gin ; yea, the Apostle himself, ver. 22, interprets it 
of a merciful, temporal judgment, whereby we are 
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned 
with the world. We are indeed prone to sin, in receiv- 
ing this ordinance unworthily ; and so we are also to 
pollute, more or less, all other holy things that we 
meddle with. So that the consideration of our danger 
might fill us with slavish fear in the use of all other 
means of grace, as well as of this, were it not, that we 
have a great High Priest, to bear this iniquity of our 
holy things, Exod. xxviii. 38, under the covert of whose 
righteousness w r e are to draw near to God, without slav- 
ish fear, in the full assurance of faith, in this as well as 
in other holy ordinances ; and we are to rejoice in the 
Lord in this spiritual feast, as the Jews were bound to 
do in their solemn feasts, Deut. xvi. 14, 15. There are 
other abuses of this ordinance, like to those of baptism 
before-mentioned, whereby it is rendered opposite, 
rather than subservient to the life of faith. Some put 
it in the place of Christ, by trusting on it as a work of 
righteousness for the procuring of God's favor, or an 
ordinance sufficient to confer grace to the soul by the 
very work wrought. Others make it so necessary that 
they consider faith as not sufficient without it ; and 



262 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT, 

therefore they will partake of it, if they can possibly 
though it be in a disorderly manner, upon their sick 
beds, when they are in fear of death, as their viaticum 
The Papists horribly idolize it by their figment of tran- 
substantiation, and the adoration of their wafer god, 
and their sacrifice of the mass, for the sins of the quick 
and the dead. We should remember that the true 
body and blood of Christ are given to us, with the bread 
and wine, in a spiritual, mysterious manner, by the un- 
searchable operation of the Holy Spirit, uniting Christ 
and us together by faith, without any transubstantia- 
tion in the outward elements. 

6. Prayer is to be made use of as a means of liv- 
ing by faith in Christ, according to the new man. And 
it is the making our requests with supplication and 
thanksgiving. That it is to be used so, as an eminent 
means, appears, because God requires it, Thess. v. 17, 
Rom. xii. 12 ; it is our priestly work, 1 Pet. ii. 5, com- 
pared with Ps. cxli. 2 ; and the property of saints, 1 
Cor. i. 2 ; and God is a God hearing prayer, Ps. Ixv. 2. 
God will be prayed to by His people, for the benefit 
that He intends to bestow on them, when once He has 
enabled them to pray ; though at first He is found of 
them that seek Him not, Ezek. xxxvi. 27, 37, Phil. i. 
19, 20, that He may prepare them for thanksgiving, 
and make benefits double benefits to them, Ps. lxvi. 16, 
18, 19, and 1. 15, 2 Cor. i. 10, II. Though His will 
be not changed by this means, yet it is accomplished, 
ordinarily, and His purpose is to accomplish it in this 
way. And therefore, trusting assuredly should not 
make us neglect, but rather perform this duty, 2 Sam. 
vii. 27. Christ the Mediator of the new covenant, by 
whom justification and sanctification are promised, is 
also the Mediator for the acceptance of our prayers, Heb. 
iv. 15, 16. The Spirit who sanctifies us, begets us in 
Christ, and shows the things of Christ to us, is a Spirit of 
prayer, Zech. xii. 10, Gal. iv. 6. He is as fire inflaming 
the soul, and making it mount upward in prayer to God. 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 263 

Prayer] ess people are dead to God, If they are 
children of Zion, yet they are but still-born, dead chil- 
dren, who cry not, Acts ix. 11 ; not written among the 
living in Jerusalem; heathens in nature, though Chris 
tians in name, Jer. x. 25. It is a duty so great, that it 
is put for all the service of God, as a fundamental duty, 
which, if it be done, the rest will be done well and not 
without it ; and other ordinances of worship are helpa 
to it, Isa. lvi. 7. It is the great means whereby faith 
exerts itself to perform its whole work, and pours itself 
forth in all holy desires and affections, Ps. lxii. 8, and 
so yields a sweet savor, as Mary's box of precious spike- 
nard, Mark^iv. 3, John xii. 3 ; and so the same prom- 
ises are made to faith and prayer, Rom. x. 11, 12, 13. 
It is our continual incense and sacrifice, whereby we 
offer ourselves, our hearts, affections, and lives, to God, 
Ps. cxli. 2. We act all grace in it ; and must act it this 
way, or else we are not likely to act it any other way. 
And as we act grace, so we obtain grace by it, and all 
holiness, Ps. cxxxviii. 3, Luke xi. 13, Heb. iv. 16, Ps. 
lxxxi. 10. Our riches come in by it. Israel prevails 
while Moses holds up his hands, Exod. xvii. 11. By 
prayer Hannah is strengthened against her sorrows, 1 
Sam. i. 15, 18 ; peace is continued, Phil. iv. 6, 7 ; the 
disordered soul is set in order by it, as Hannah, 1 Sam. 
i. 18, Ps. xxxii. 1-5. Incense was still burnt, while 
the lamps were dressed, Exod. xxx. 7, 8. It is added 
to the spiritual armor, not as a particular piece of it, 
but as a means of putting on all, and making use of all 
aright, that we may stand in the evil day, Eph. vi. 18. 
It is a means of transfiguring us into the likeness of 
Christ in holiness, and making our spiritual faces shine, 
as Christ was transfigured bodily, while He prayed, 
Luke xi. 29, and Moses* face shone while he talked with 
God, Exod. xxxiv. 29. Hence the frequent use of this 
duty is commended to us, Eph. vi. 18. Praying al- 
ways, (tcuptv xatQat f ) on all seasons and opportunities ; 
and, by the example of the saints, in public with the 



264 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

congregation, Acts ii. 42, and x. 30, 31. Solemn acts 
of prayer should be continued daily, Matt. vi. 1 1 ; yea, 
several times in a day, as morning and evening sacrifice, 
Dan. vi. 10; Ps. xcii. 2; or thrice, Ps. lv. 17; besides 
special occasions, Jam. v. 13, 15 ; and brief ejacula- 
tions, that hinder not other business, Ps. cxxix. 8, 2 
Sam. xv. 31, Neh. ii. 4. Prayers should be solemn, in 
our closets, Matt. vi. 6 ; in families, Acts x. 30, 31. 
And as sacrifices were multiplied on the Sabbath days, 
and days of atonement, and at other appointed seasons, 
Numb, xxviii. besides the continual burnt-offering ; so 
ought prayer also. In a word, a Christian ought to 
give up himself eminently to this duty, Ps. cix. 4, with- 
out limits, Ps. cxix. 164. But the great work is, to 
practise this duty rightly for holiness, only by faith in 
Christ. Here we have need to say, Lord teach us to 
pray, Luke xi. 1 ; and that not only as to the matter, 
but as to the manner ; both which are taught by Christ, 
in some measure, in that brief pattern of prayer which 
He taught His disciples. But, for the understanding 
of it, we must consult the whole word, 2 Tim. iii. 16, 
17. And we have need of the Spirit of Christ to guide 
us in the duty ; and therefore we are taught to pray by 
the Spirit, that is, the Holy Ghost, Jude, ver. 20, Eph. 
ii. 18. The Spirit of God alone guides and enables our 
souls to pray aright. And, that^you may do so, take 
these rules. 

(1.) You must pray with your hearts and spirits, 
Isa. xxvi. 9, John iv. 24, where the Spirit of Christ, and 
of prayer, principally resides, Gal. iv. 6, Eph. 1, 17;. 
with understanding, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, 16, for we are re- 
newed in knowledge, Col. iii. 10, 2 Peter i. 3 ; so that 
praying in ignorance cannot sanctify. And it must be 
with sincere, hearty desire of the good things we ask in 
prayer ; for God seeth the heart, Ps. lxii. 8. Prayer 
is chiefly a heart-work, Ps. xxvii. 8. God hears the 
heart without the mouth, but never hears the mouth 
acceptably without the heart, 1 Sam. i. 23. Your 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 265 

prayer is odious hypocrisy, mocking of God, and taking 
His name in vain, when yon utter petitions for the 
coming of His kingdom, and the doing of His will, and 
yet hate godliness in your heart. This is lying to God, 
and flattering with your lips, but no true prayer ; and 
so God takes it, Ps. lxxviii. 36. And you must have 
a ser.se of your wants and necessities, and that God 
only can supply them, 2 Chron. xx. 12. And fervency 
in these desires is required, Jam. v. 16. And you must 
pray with attention, minding yourselves what you pray, 
or else you cannot expect that God should mind it, 
Dan. ix. 3. Watch unto it, 1 Peter iv. 7. Set your- 
selves to this duty intently. God sees where your 
heart is wandering, when you pray without attention, 
Ezek. xxxiii. 31. When you say ever so many prayers 
without understanding, attention, affection, it is not 
praying at all, but sinning, and playing the hypocrite ; 
as Papists mumble over their Latin prayer upon the 
beads by tale, prating like parrots what they cannot 
understand. And thus ignorant people say over their 
forms of English prayers, and account that they have 
well discharged their duty, though their heart prayed 
not at all, and was minding other things. This is a 
mere lip -labor, and bodily exercise offering a dead 
carcass to God ; plain deceit, Mai. i. 13, 14 ; a form 
of godliness, but denying the power, 2 Tim. hi. 5 ; 
whereby Popery has cheated the world of the power 
of this, and all other holy ordinanees. They say, God 
minds and knows what they speak, and approves it. I 
answer, He sees them so as to judge them for hypo- 
crites, and profane persons, for not knowing, minding, 
and approving what they utter themselves ; He has no 
pleasure in fools, Eccles. v. 1, 4. They would not 
deal so with an earthly prince. 

(2.) You must pray " in the name of Christ :" for 
the Spirit glorifies Christ, John xvi. 14, and leadeth us 
to God through Christ, Eph. ii. 18. As I have show- 
ed, that walking in the Spirit, and walking in Christ, is 
23 



266 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

all one; so is praying in the Spirit, and praying by and 
through Christ. And as we are to walk in the name 
of the Lord, and to do all things in His name, so are 
we to pray in His name, as is commanded, John xiv. 
13, 14. It is not enough to conclude our prayers 
" through Jesus Christ our Lord ;" but we must come 
for blessings in the garments of our elder brother, and 
must depend upon His worthiness and strength for all. 
So also we must praise God for all things in His name, 
as things received for His sake, and by Him, Eph. v. 
20. We must lay hold on His strength only, and plead 
nothing, and own nothing, for our acceptance, but 
Him. We must not arrogantly plead our own works, 
like the proud Pharisee, Luke xvii. 11, 12 ; except only 
as fruits of grace, and rewards of grace, Isa. xxxviii. 3. 
Praying in the Spirit is upon gospel, not legal prin- 
ciples, Rom. vii. 6, 2 Cor. vi. 3, with great humiliation, 
and sense of unworthiness, Ps. li. ; with a broken spirit; 
with despair of acceptance, otherwise than upon Christ's 
account, Dan. ix. 18. If your enlargements, strugglings, 
meltings, have been ever so great ; yet without this all 
is abominable. 

(3.) Hence you must not think to be accepted for 
the goodness of your prayers, nor trust on them as 
works of righteousness ; which is making idols of 
your prayers, and putting them into the place of Christ ; 
quite contrary to praying in the name of Christ. Thus 
Papists hope to be saved by saying their tale of 
prayers upon their bead-rows: and they have indul- 
gences granted upon their saying so many prayers, and 
of such a sort. Yea, some ignorant Protestants trust 
on their prayers as duties of righteousness ; and they 
think one prayer more acceptable than another, by 
reason of the holiness of the form, if it were made by 
holy men; especially the Lord's prayer, which they 
use to help them in any exigence or danger; how 
little soever they can apply it to their own case, they 
make an idol of it. And some use it and other places 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 261 

of Scripture, as a spell or charm, to drive away the 
devil. And others think their prayers more acceptable 
in one place than another, by reason of the holiness of 
the place, John iv. 21, 24, I Tim. ii 8. Others trust 
ou their much speaking, Matt. vi. 7. which they 
call the enlarging of their hearts. They think to 
put off God, and to stop the mouth of conscience, with 
a few prayers, and so to live as they please. 

(4.) Pray to God, as your Father, through Christ as 
your Saviour, in faith of remission of sins and of your 
acceptance with God, and the obtaining all other 
things which you desire of Him, as far as is necessary 
for your salvation, Jam. i. 5, 6, 7, and v. 15 ; 1 John 
v. 14, 15; Mark xi. 24; Heb. x. 14; Psal. lxii. 8, 
lxxxvi. 7, lv. 16, lvii. 1, 2, and xvii. 6. This is praying 
in Christ, Eph. iii. 12, and by the Holy Ghost, the 
Spirit of adoption, Rom. viii. 15, Gal. iv. 6. Without 
this, prayer is lifeless and heartless, and but a dead 
carcass, Rom. x. 14, Psal. lxxvii. 1, 2. By this you 
may judge whether you have prayed rightly, more than 
by your melting affection or largeness in expression. 
Though you be not assured that you shall have every- 
thing that you ask, yet everything that is good. This 
faith you must endeavor to act ; and therefore, if any 
sin lie on your conscience, you must strive first to get the 
pardon of it, Psal. xxxii. 1, 5, and li. 14, 15, and puri- 
fication from it by faith, that you may lift up holy hands 
without wrath and doubting, 1 Tim. ii. 8. The sin of 
wrath is there especially mentioned, because it is con- 
trary to love and to forgiving others. Here lies the 
strength, life, and power of prayer. Set faith at work, 
and you will be powerful, and prevail. 

(5.) You must strive in prayer to stir up and act 
every other sanctifying grace, through faith moving 
you thereto. Thus your spikenards will yield their 
smell, as godly sorrow ; Psal. xxxviii. 18, peace; Isa. 
xxvii. 5 ; joy, Psal. cv. 3; hope, Psal. lxxi. 5 ; desire and 
love to God, Psal. iv. 6 ; and love to all His commands, 



268 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

Psal. cxix. 4, 5, and to all His people out of love to 
Him, Psal. cxxii. 8. You must seek the Spirit himself, 
in the first place, Luke xi. 14, Psal. xxxvii. 5 ; and all 
spiritual things, Matt. vi. 33. Praying only for carnal 
things, shows a carnal heart, and leaves it carnal. Pray 
for faith, Mark ix. 24, and for such things as may serve 
most for the glorifying God, 2 Chron. i. 11, 12; and for 
outward things, you must act faith in submission to His 
will. And this prayer sets you in a holy frame, Matt, 
xxvi. 52, Luke xxii. 42, 43. Hallowing God's name 
must be your aim, Matt. vi. 9, not your lusts, Jam. iv. 3. 

(6.) Strive to bring your soul into order by this duty, 
however disordered by guilt, anguish, inordinate cares, 
or fears, Psal. xxxii. 1, 5, lv. 16, 17, 20, 21, and lxix. 
32 ; Phil. iv. 6, 7, 1 Sam. i. A watch must be often 
wound up. You must wrestle in prayer, against your 
unbelief, doubts, fears, cares, reluctance of the flesh, to 
that which is good ; against all evil lusts and desires, 
coldness of affection, impatience, trouble of spirit, 
everything that is contrary to a holy life, and the 
graces and holy desires to be acted for yourselves or 
others, Col. iv. 12, Rom. xv. 30. Stir up yourselves to 
the duty, Col. ii. 1, 2 ; Isa. lxiv. 7. Though the flesh 
be cross and reluctant, we must not yield, but resist 
by the Spirit, Matt. xxiv. 14 ; and thus we shall find 
the Spirit helping our infirmities, Rom. vii. 26, 27. 
Though God seem to defer long, we must not faint or 
be discouraged, Lukexviii. 1. 7. The greater our ago- 
nies be, the more earnestly we are to pray, Psal. xxii. 
1, 2 ; Luke xxii. 42. This is (nQomcixQiegeiv t?/ ^goost/i],) 
" to continue instant in prayer," Rom. xii. 12, Eph. vi. 
18. Thus you will find prayer a great heart- work, and 
not such a thing as may be done while you think on 
other things ; and that it requires all the strength of 
faith and affection that you can possibly stir up. Thus 
you may get a holy frame. 

(7.) You must make a good use of the whole mat- 
ter, and all the manner of prayer, as ordinary and ex- 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 269 

traordinary exigencies may require, to stir up grace in 
you, by wrestling, and to bring your hearts into a holy 
frame. As, in confession, you must condemn your- 
self according to the flesh, but not as you are in 
Christ. You must not deny the grace that you have, 
as if you were only wicked hitherto, and are now to 
begin again; which hinders praise for grace received 
in those that are already converted. In supplication, 
you must endeavor to work up your heart to a godly 
sorrow, Psal. xxxviii. 18, and a holy sense of your own 
sin and misery ; and lay before you the aggravations 
thereof, Psal. li. 3, and cii. Complaint and lamentation 
are one great part of prayer, as the Lamentations of 
Jeremiah. And you must add pleadings to your pe- 
titions, with such arguments as may serve to strengthen 
faith, and to stir up and kindle affection, Job xxiii. 4 ; 
which pleadings are taken from attributes, Num. xiv. 
17, 18 ; promises, 2 Sam. vii. 27, 28, &c. ; Gen. xxxii. 
9, 12 ; the equity of our cause, Psal. xvii. 2, 3 ; the 
advantage and benefit of the thing, to the glory of God, 
and our comfort, Psal. cxv. 1, 2, and lxxix. 9, 10, 13. 
Naked petitions are not sufficient, when the soul finds 
special cause of struggling and wrestling against cor- 
ruptions and dangers, and for mercies, Christ's large 
prayer (John xvii.) is made up of pleading and very 
few petitions. And we must make use also of praise 
and thanksgiving, to stir up peace, joy, love, &c. Gen. 
xxxiii. 10, Psal. xviii. 1, 2, 3, xxxiii. 1, lxxiv. 14, and 
civ. 34. Especially be much in praising God for mer- 
cies of the new state in Christ, Eph. i. 3 ; and then you 
will the better give thanks for all benefits on this ac- 
count, Eph. v. 20, 1 Thess. v. 18 ; and plead those 
benefits, to stir up to faith and duty. That brief ejac- 
ulation, " Lord have mercy on me," is very good to be 
used : but it will not answer the end and use of the 
whole duty of prayer; as some lazy carnal people 
would have it, and so harden themselves in the neglect 
of the duty ; though the large improvement and use of 
23* 



270 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

all the matter of prayer, at all times, is not required, 
but only as ordinary and extraordinary occasions may 
require. 

(8.) You must not confine and limit your prayers by 
any prescribed form; seeing it is impossible that any 
such forms should be contrived, as should answer and 
fit all the various conditions and necessities of the soul 
at all times. I do not condemn all forms, as that made 
by Christ, the Lord's prayer ; though it were easy to 
show, that Christ never intended it for a form of prayer, 
so as to bind any to the precise form of words ; and it 
is plain the Spirit of God has expressed it in dif- 
ferent w T ords, Matt, vi., Luke xi. But better to pray by 
that form or other forms, than not at all. It is un- 
charitable to take away crutches, or wooden legs, from 
lame people ; yet none will look upon them but as dead 
helps. I say, it is utterly unlawful to bind ourselves to 
any form ; because none can answer the duty fitly and 
suitably to particular occasions, Eph. vi. 18, Phil. iv. 
6, John xv. 7, 1 Thess. v. 18, Eph. v. 20. You must 
make the whole Scripture your common prayer-book 
as the primitive church did ; being the language of the 
Spirit, reaching all occasions and conditions, and fittest 
to speak to God in. And, if you use a form, you must 
follow it by the Spirit farther than the form goes, ac- 
cording as He shall gui-de you by the word ; or else 
you quench the Spirit, 1 Thes'sTv. 19. If you know 
the principles of prayer, and have a lively sense of your 
necessities, and hearty desires for God's grace and 
mercies, you will be able to pray without forms, and 
your affections will bring forth words out of the fulness 
of your heart. And you need not be over-solicitous 
and timorous about words ; for doubtless, the Spirit, 
who is the help to us in speaking to men, will also 
much more help us to speak to God, if we desire it, 1 
Cor. i. 5, Mark xiii. 11, Luke xii. 11, 12. And God 
regards not eloquent words, nor artificial composition ; 
neither need we regard it in private prayer, Isa. xxxviii. 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 271 

14. If you limit yourself to forms, you will thereby 
grow formal, and limit the Spirit. 

7. Another means appointed of God, is, singing of 
psalms, that is, songs of any sacred subject, composed 
to a tune; hymns or songs of praise, and spiritual 
songs, of any sublime spiritual matter, as Ps. xlv. and 
the Sonof of Solomon. God has commanded it in the 
New Testament, Col. iii. 16, Eph. v. 19; though, now 
in these days, many question whether it be an ordinance. 
And there were many commands for it under the Old 
Testament, Ps. cxlix. 1, 2, 3, xcvi. 1, and c. Moses 
and the children of Israel sang before David's time, 
Exod. xv. David composed psalms by the Spirit, to 
be sung publicly, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, 2, yea, privately too, 
Ps. xl. 3, 2 Chron. xxix. 30, Ps. cv. 2. Other songs 
also were made upon several occasions, and used, whe- 
ther they were parts of the Scripture or not ; as Solo- 
mon made a thousand and five, 1 Kings iv. 32. And 
they made songs upon occasion, which teach, that it is 
lawful for us to do so, if they be according to the word, 
Isa. xxxviii, 9, 14. The matter of Scripture may be 
sung, Ps. cxix. 54. Christ and His disciples sung a 
hymn, Matt. xxvi. 30, supposed to be one of David's 
psalms : and they were written for our instruction, as 
well as other parts of Scripture, Rom. xv. 4, &c, and 
so to be used now in singing. They speak of the 
things of the New Testament, either figuratively or 
clearly; and we may understand them better now, than 
the Jews could, under the Old Testament, 2 Cor. iii. 
16, Gal. ii. 17. Christians heretofore practised this 
duty as well as Jews, Acts xvi. 25. Hence their ante- 
lucani hymni (the hymns they sung before daylight) 
were noted by Pliny, a heathen. These songs or hymns 
may be used at all times, especially for holy mirth or 
rejoicing, Jam. v. 13. But this text is not to be taken 
exclusively in singing, any more than in prayer, Ps. 
xxxviii. 18, 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. 

But the right manner of this duty is chiefly to be 



272 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

noted. And, here, (1.) Trust not upon the melody of 
the voice ; as if that pleased God, who delights only 
in the melody of the heart, Col. iii. 16. Neither let 
the recreation of your senses be your end, which is but 
a carnal work : Non musica chordula, sed cor ; non 
damans, sed amans, psallit in aure Dei; "Not a mu- 
sical string, but the heart ; not crying, but loving, 
sounds in the ear of the Lord." This spiritual music 
was typified by musical instruments of old. (2.) You 
must use it for the same end as meditation and prayer, 
according to the nature of what is sung, that is, to 
quicken faith, 2 Chron. xx. 21, 22, Acts xvi. 25, 26 ; 
and joy and delight in the Lord, glorifying in Him, Ps. 
civ. 33, 34, cv. 3, cxlix. 1, 2, and xxxiii. 1, 2, 3. You 
are never right until you can be heartily merry in the 
Lord, to act joy and mirth holily, James v. 13, Eph. v. 
19 ; and also to get more knowledge, and instruction 
in heavenly mysteries, and in your duty, teaching and 
admonishing, Col. iii. 16. Many psalms are Maschils, 
(as their title is,) that is psalms of instruction. Thus 
we are to sing such psalms as speak in the first person, 
though we cannot apply them to ourselves as words 
uttered by ourselves concerning ourselves ; and in this 
we do not lie. David speaks of Christ as of himself, 
as a pattern of affliction and virtue, to instruct others ; 
and we sing such psalms, not as our words, but words 
for our instruction. And therein we do not lie, any 
more than the Levites, the sons of Korah, or Jeduthun, 
or other musicians bound to sing them, Ps. v. xxxix. 
and xlii. Though it be good to personate all the good 
that we can ; yet we have so much liberty in the use 
of psalms, that though we cannot apply all to ourselves, 
as speaking and thinking the same, yet we shall answer 
the end, if we sing for our instruction, as in Ps. vi. xxvi. 
xlvi. ci. and cxxxi. And psalms have a peculiar fitness 
for teaching and instructing ; because the pleasantness 
of metre said or sung, is very helpful to the memory. 
See Deut. xxxi. 19, 21. And there is a variety of 



XITI.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 273 

curious artifice in the placing of words in the psalms 
upon this account ; and there are some alphabetical 
psalms, as Ps. xxv. xxxiv. xxxvii. cxi. cxii. cxix. and 
cxlv. And, by the melody of the sound, the instruc- 
tion comes in with delight, as a physical dose sugared ; 
and sorrow is naturally allayed, to fit the mind for 
spiritual joy ; and distempered passions appeased, 2 
Kings iii. 15, 1 Sam. xvi. 14, 15, 16. So, Orpheus, 
Amphion, and others, were famous for civilizing rude 
and barbarous people by music. 

8. Fasting is also an ordinance of God to be used 
for the same purpose and end, and is commended to us 
under the New Testament, Matt. ix. )5, and xvii. 21, 
1 Cor. vii. 5. And we have examples of it, Acts xiii. 
2, 3, and xiv. 23. Under the Old Testament, there 
were frequent commands for it, and examples, chiefly 
upon occasion of extraordinary afflictions, 1 Sam. vii. 
6, Neh. ix. 1, Dan. ix. 3, and x. 2, 3, 2 Sam. xii. 16, 
Ps. xxxv. 13, 2 Sam. iii. 31, Joel ii. 13; beside the 
anniversary great day of atonement, Lev. xvi. 29, 31, 
when every one was to fast on pain of cutting off. 
There is a prophecy of the same for the times of the 
New Testament, Zech. xii. 12. It was used most on 
extraordinary occasions ; and it is a help to holiness by 
faith, because it is a meet help for extraordinary prayer 
and humiliation, Joel i. 14, and ii. 12. But the great 
matter is, to use it rightly, as follows : — 

(1.) Trust not in it, as meriting or satisfying, as Pa- 
pists and Pharisees do, Luke xvii. 11, putting it in the 
place of Christ ; or as a means of itself conferring 
grace, and mortifying lusts, as many do, who may 
sooner kill their bodies than their lusts; or as any 
purifying rite ; yea. or in or for itself acceptable to God, 
1 Tim. vi. 8, Heb.'xii. 9, Col. ii. 16, 17, 20, 23. Im- 
agine not, that prayer is not acceptable without it; for 
this is against faith. Fasts, as well as feasts, are no sub- 
stantial parts of worship, because not spiritual, but 
bodily ; though, under the Old Testament, they were 



2*74 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

parts, as instituted rites, figurative and teaching. But 
that use is now ceased ; as that on the day of atone- 
ment; and so many significative rites adjoined to fast- 
ing, as sackcloth, ashes, rending garments, pouring out 
water, lying on the earth. The kingdom of God con- 
sists not in these things, Rom. xiv. 11. The soul is har- 
dened by trusting in them, Isa. lviii. 3, 6, Zech. vii. 
5, 6, 10. 

(2.) Use it as a help to extraordinary prayer and 
humiliation ; that the mind may not be unsuited for it, 
by eating, drinking, or bodily pleasures, Joel ii. 13, Isa. 
xxii. 12, 13, Zech. xii. 10-14. It is good only as a 
help to the soul, removing impediments. The best fast 
is, when the mind is taken off from delights, as in 
John the Baptist's case, Matt. iii. 4 ; when heaven and 
godly sorrow takes off the soul, Zech. xii. 10-14. 

(3.) Use it in such a measure as may be proper for 
its end ; without which it is worth nothing. If absti- 
nence divert your mind, by reason of a gnawing appe- 
tite, then you had better eat sparingly, as Daniel, in 
his great fast, chapter x. 2, 3. Some have not enough 
of spiritual-mindedness, to give up themselves to fast- 
ing and prayer, without great distraction ; and such 
had better eat, than go beyond their strength in a thing 
not absolutely necessary, which produces only a slavish 
act, as in the case of virginity, 1 Cor. vii. 7, 8, 9, 34, 
35, 36. Christ would not have His weak disciples 
necessitated to the duty, Matt. ix. 14, 15. In the 
mean time, such should strive to be sensible of the 
weakness and carnality that hinders their use of this 
excellent help. 

9. You may expect here something to be said of 
vows. But I shall only say this of them : Think not 
to bring yourselves to good by vows and promises, as 
if the strength of your own law could do it, when the 
strength of God's law does it not. We bring children 
to make promises of amendment ; but we know how 
well they keep them. The devil will urge you to vow, 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 275 

and then to break, that he may perplex your conscience 
the more. 

10. Another great means, is, fellowship and commu- 
nion with the saints, Acts ii. 42. 

First, This means must be used diligently. Who- 
ever God saves, should be added to some visible 
church, and come into the communion of other saints ; 
and, if they have no opportunity for it, their heart 
should be bent towards it. Sometimes the church is 
in the wilderness, and hindered from visible communion 
and ordinances ; but they who believe in Christ, are 
always willing and desirous so to add and join them- 
selves, Acts ii. 41, 44, 47. " And they continued stead- 
fastly in fellowship,'' 1 John ii. 19. And God binds 
His people to leave the fellowship and society of the 
wicked as much as may be, 2 Cor. vi. 17. And, so far 
as we are necessitated to keep company with them, we 
ought to show charity to their souls and bodies, 1 Cor. 
v. 9. This communion with saints is to be exercised 
in private converse, Ps. ci. 4, 5, 6, 7, and in public as- 
semblies, Heb. x. 25, Zech. xiv. 16, 17. And doubt- 
less it ought to be used for the attainment of holiness ; 
as may be proved. 

First, In general, because God communicates all sal- 
vation to a people ordinarily, by or in a church ; either 
by taking them into fellowship, or holding forth the 
light of truth by His churches to the world. A 
church is the temple of God, where God dwells, 1 Tim. 
Hi. 15. He has placed His name and salvation there, 
as in Jerusalem of old, Joel ii. 32, 2 Chron. vi. 5, 6. 
He has given to His churches those officers and ordi- 
nances whereby He converts others, 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
His springs are there, Ps. lxxxvii. 7. He makes the sev- 
eral members of a church, instruments for the convey- 
ance of His grace and fulness from one to another, as 
the members of a natural body convey to each, other 
the fulness of the head, Eph. iv. 16. All the new-born 
are brought forth and nourished by the church, Isa. 



2? 6 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY |~DIRECT. 

Ixvi. 8, 11, xlix. 20, and lx. 4; and therefore all who 
would be saved should join to a church ; they shall 
prosper that love the church, so as to stand in its gates, 
and unite as members, brethren, and companions, Ps. 
cxxii. 2, 4, 6. And wrath is denounced against those 
who are not members of it, at least, of the mystical 
body : they cannot have God for their Father, who 
have not the church for their mother, Song i. 7, 8. 
This makes those who desire fellowship with God, to 
take hold of the skirts of His people, Zech. viii. 23. 

Secondly, In particular, fellowship with the saints 
conduces to holiness in many ways. 

1. By manifold helps to holiness, which are received 
thereby : As, 

(1.) The word and sacraments, Acts ii. 42, Isa. ii. 3, 
Matt, xxviii. 19, 20; and all the ministerial office and 
labor in watching over souls, Heb. xiii. 17, 1 Thess. 
v. 12, 13, Isa. xxv. 6. None of these helps can be 
enjoyed without fellowship of saints with each other. 
And, were believers obliged to stand singly by them- 
selves, and not maintain fellowship with each other, 
for mutual assistance and common good, none of these 
things could have continued ; neither could any be- 
liever have been extant at this day, in an ordinary 
way, but even the very name of believers had been 
abolished. 

(2.) Mutual prayer, which is the more forcible, when 
all pray together, Matt, xviii. 19, 20, 2 Cor. i. 10, 11, 
James v. 16, Rom. xv. 30. 

(3.) Mutual admonition, instruction, consolation, to 
help each other when they are ready to fall, and to pro- 
mote the good work in each other, 1 Thess. v. 14. 
"He that walketh with wise men, shall be wise/' Prov. 
xiii. 20. " Woe to him that is alone when he falleth." 
See Eccl. iv. 9-12. In church-fellowship there are 
many helpers, many to watch. Soldiers have their se- 
curity in being in company ; and the church is compar- 
ed to an army with banners, Song vi. 4, 10. So, for 



XIII.] OF SANCTTFICATION. 2*71 

quickening affections, iron sharpeneth iron, Prov. xxii. 
17. Likewise, the counsel of a friend, like ointment and 
perfume, rejoiceth the heart, Prov. xxvii. 9. Yea, the 
wounds and reproofs of the righteous are as precious 
balm, Ps. cxli. 5. 

(4.) External supports, which mitigate afflictions, 
and are to be communicated mutually, Eph. iv. 28, 1 
Peter iv. 9, 10. The affliction is increased, when none 
careth for our souls, Ps. cxlii. 4. 

(5.) Excommunication, when offences are exceeding 
heinous, or men continue obstinate in sin. This ordi- 
nance is appointed for the destruction of the flesh, that 
the spirit may be saved, 1 Cor. v. 5. Better and more 
hopeful it is, to be cast out by the church for a per- 
son's amendment, than to be wholly without the 
church at all times : and better to be a lost sheep, 
than a goat or swine. For excommunication cuts off 
actual communion only, until repentance be evident ; 
and does not absolutely abolish the title and relation 
of a brother and church-member, though it judges one 
to be an unnatural brother, and a pernicious member at 
present, not fit for acts of communion. Besides, admo- 
nition is still to be afforded, 2 Thess. iii. 15, and any 
means are to be used, that may serve to cure and re- 
store him. The church reaches forth a hand to help 
such a person, though it do not join hands in fellow- 
ship with him ; or it communicates to him, not with 
him. Yet if he have not so much grace as to repent, it 
were better he had never known the way of righteous- 
ness, 2 Peter ii. 21. 

(6.) The lively examples of saints are before our 
eyes in church-fellowship, to teach and encourage, Phil, 
iii. 17, and iv. 9, 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11, 2 Cor. ix. 2. 

Thirdly, By those holy duties that are required, and 
which appertain to this fellowship and communion. 
All acts that belong to this fellowship, are holy ; as, 
hearing, receiving the sacrament, prayer, mutual admo- 
nitions, &c. I shall consider some such holy acts, 
24 



278 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

whereby we are rather doers than receivers, and which 
we perform towards others : As, 

(1.) Godly discourse, teaching, admonishing, com- 
forting others in Christ ; which we cannot so perform 
in others, as towards those with whom we have strict 
fellowship in Christ. Others, like swine, trample those 
jewels under foot ; and saints therefore are forced to 
refrain from godly discourse in their company, Amos 
v. 10, 13, and vi. 10. But holy discourse is most ac- 
ceptable to the saints, and to be practised with them, 
Mai. iii. 16, and is greatly to the advantage of holiness, 
Prov. xi. 25. 

(2.) In helping, succoring, and conversing with Christ 
in His members, we do good to Christ in His members 
in church-fellowship ; and we ourselves, as members of 
Christ, act as well from Christ as towards Christ 
whereas, if we do good to others without, we do good 
only for Christ's sake, but not to Christ, Matt. xxv. 35 
-49, Ps. xvi. 2, 3. We have advantage in general, 
to do all duties that belong to us as members of Christ 
to fellow-members ; which we cannot do, if separate 
from them ; as a natural member cannot perform its 
office to other members, if separate from them. 

Secondly, The means must be used rightly, for at- 
taining holiness only in Christ. 

1. One rule is, Do not trust on_church membership, 
or on churches, as if this or that relation in fellowship 
commended you to God of itself; whereas, church 
communion is but a help to fellowship with Christ, and 
walking in the duties of that fellowship. The Israelites 
stumbled on Christ, by trusting on their carnal privi- 
leges, and set them in opposition to Christ ; whereas, 
they should have only made them subservient to Christ. 
Confidence in them should have been abandoned, as 
Paul's example teaches, Phil. iii. 3, 4, 5, &c. We 
must not glory in Paul, Apollos, Cephas, but in Christ ; 
else we glory in the flesh, and in men, 1 Cor. i. 12, 13, 
and iii. 21. Trusting on church privileges is an inlet to 



XIII.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 279 

formality and licentiousness, Jer. vii. 4, 8, 9, 1 0, and tlience 
the corruption of churches, Isa, i. 10, 2 Tim, ii. 20. 

2. Follow no church any farther than you may fol- 
low it in the way of Christ ; and keep fellowship with 
it only on account of Christ, because it follows Christ, 
and has fellowship with Christ, 1 John i. 3, Zech. viii. 
23. If a church revolt from Christ, we must not fol- 
low it, how ancient soever it may be ; as the Israelitish 
church was not to be followed, when it persecuted 
Christ and His apostles ; and many, by adhering to 
that church, fell from Christ, Phil. iii. 6, Acts vi. 13, 
14, and xxi. 28. We are indeed to hear the church, 
but not every one that calls itself so, and none any 
farther than it speaks as a true church, according to 
the voice of the Shepherd, John x. 27. We must sub- 
ject ourselves to ministers of Christ, and stewards of 
His mysteries, 1 Cor. iv. 1, but must give up ourselves 
first to Christ absolutely, and to the church according 
to the will of Christ, 2 Cor. viii. 5. Our fear must not 
be taught by the precepts of men, Matt. xv. The doc- 
trines of any body of men are to be tried by Scripture, 
whatever authority they pretend to, Acts xvii. 11. An 
unlimited fo lowing of church guides, brought the 
church into Babylon, and into all manner of spiritual 
whoredoms and abominations. You are not baptized 
into the name of the church, but into the name of 
Christ, 1 Cor. i. 13. 

3. Do not think, that you must attain this or that 
degree of grace, before you join yourself in full com- 
munion with a church of Christ in all ordinances. But 
when you have given up yourself to Christ, and learned 
the duty of communion, give up yourself unto a church 
of Christ, though you find much weakness and inability. 
For church ordinances of special communion serve to 
strengthen you ; and how can you get heat, being 
alone ? The disciples, as soon as converted, embraced 
all fellowship, Acts ii. 42. And churches, that they 
may forward holiness in themselves and others, must 



280 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

be willing to receive Christ's weak ones, and to feed 
His lambs as well as better-grown sheep, and bear them 
on their sides, Isa. lxvi. 12. How else shall Christ's 
weak ones grow strong by that nourishment that other 
parts supply ? They are very unreasonable, who ex- 
pect Christians should grow, out of church-fellowship, 
to as high a degree of grace, as those that are in those 
pastures of tender grass ; and are unwilling to receive 
any that they are likeiy to have occasion to bear with : 
whereas, bearing and long-suffering are great duties of 
church-fellowship, Eph. iv. 2, 3, Rom. xiv. 1. The 
weakest have the most need to be strengthened by 
church communion ; and we are bound to receive them, 
as Christ has received us, Rom. xv. 7. We do not re- 
ject or separate the weaker parts of the body, 1 Cor. 
xii. 23, 24, but put more honor and comeliness on them. 
Admission into the churches in the apostolic times was 
gained upon profession, with a show of seriousness ; 
though tares got in among the wheat, and many scan- 
dals arose to the reproach of the ways of Christ ; and 
the greatest strictness will not keep out all hypocrites ; 
yet the best care must be taken so far as not to hinder 
any that have the least truth of grace. 

4. Keep communion with a church, for the sake of 
communion with Christ, 1 John i. 3, Zech. viii. 23. 
Therefore you must keep communion in Christ's pure 
ways only, and, in them, seek Christ by faith ; that, in 
the enjoyment of those advantages, you may receive 
and act the godliness and holiness before mentioned, 
and aim at spiritual nourishing and growth in grace. 
Choose therefore fellowship with the most spiritual 
churches. Judge of churches and men, according to 
the rule of the new creature, 2 Cor. v. 16, 17, and try 
them, Rev. ii. 2, and iii. 9 ; otherwise a church may 
corrupt you. See that thy communion answer its end, 
tend to thy edification, not to destruction ; which you 
ought to take all the advantages of, not only in the 
church where you are a member, but by communion 



Tiki.] OF SAtfCTlFlOATION. 281 

with other churches, as occasionally Providence casts 
you among them ; for your communion with a particu- 
lar church obliges to communion with all churches of 
Christ in His ways, as you are called thereto, 1 Cor. x. 
27. And it is an abuse to say, We are members of a 
church in London, and therefore refuse fellowship with 
a church in the country; seeing, if we are members 
of Christ, we are members of one another, whether 
single persons or churches. And endeavor to join in 
fellowship with the godly of the place where you live, 
that you may have the more frequent and constant 
communion. Onesimus, though converted at Rome, 
must be one of the church of the Colossians, because he 
lived there, Col. rv. 9, compared with Philemon, verse 
10. The union of the saints together in distinct soci- 
eties, according to the places where they lived, was the 
apostolic practice, and cannot be violated without sin. 
Such can best watch over one another, admonish, 'com- 
fort, and edify each other ; which is the benefit of com- 
munion. And they indeed destroy communion, who 
seek a communion where they cannot have this benefit. 
I only add to this head, that church-fellowship, without 
practising the ways of Christ, is but a conspiracy to 
take His name in vain, and a counterfeit church-fellow- 
ship of hypocrites. It is impudence Tor such to invite 
others to their communion ; tyranny, to compel them. 
Every Christian is bound to seek a better church-fel- 
lowship by reformation ; and those who do so, are the 
best sons of Christ's church, w r ho inquire, Is this the 
way to enjoy Christ ? church communion being appoint- 
ed to enjoy Christ therein. 

5. Especially leave not the church in persecution, 
when you need its help most, and are then most tried 
whether you will cleave to it. This is a sign of apos- 
tasy, Heb. x. 25, 26, Matt. xxiv. 9, 10, 12, 13, 14. 
We should cleave to one another as one flesh, even to 
prisons and death ; or else we deny Christ in His mem- 
bers, Matt. xxv. 13. 

24* 



282 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 



DIRECTION XIV. 

That you may seek holiness and righteousness, only by believ- 
ing in Christ, and walking in Him by faith, according to the for- 
mer directions, take encouragement from the great advantages 
of this way, and the excellent properties of it. 

EXPLICATION. 

This direction may serve as an epilogue or con- 
clusion, by stirring us up to a lively and cheerful em- 
bracing those gospel rules before mentioned, by several 
weighty motives. Many are kept from seeking godli- 
ness, because they know not the way to it ; or the way 
that they think of, seems uncouth, unpleasant, disad- 
vantageous, and full of discouragement ; like the way 
through the wilderness to Canaan, which wearied the 
Israelites, and occasioned their many murmuiings, 
Num. xxi. 4. 

But this is a way so good and excellent, that those 
who have the true knowledge of it, and desire heartily 
to be godly, cannot dislike it. I shall show the excel- 
lency of it, in several particulars^ But you should first 
call to mind what is the way I have taught, viz. union 
and fellowship with Christ, and by faith in Christ, as 
discovered in the Gospel ; not by the law, or in a nat- 
ural condition, or by thinking to get it before we come 
to Christ, to procure Christ by it, which is striving 
against the stream ; but that we must first apply Christ 
and His salvation to ourselves, for our comfort, and 
that by confident faith ; and then walk by that faith, 
according to the new man, in Christ, and not as in a 
natural condition ; and use all means of holiness rightly 
for this end. Now, that this is an excellent, advan- 
tageous way appears by the following desirable prop- 
erties of it. 



XIV.] OF SANCTIFICATION". 283 

First, It has this property, that it tends to the abase- 
ment of all flesh, and the exaltation of God only in His 
grace and power through Christ. And so it is agreeable 
to God's design in all His works, and the end that He 
aims at, Rom. xi. 6, Isa. ii. 17, Ezek. xxxvi. 21, 22, 23, 
31, 32, Ps. cxlv. 4; and a fit means for attaining the 
end that we ought to aim at in the first place, which is 
the hallowing, sanctifying, and glorifying God's name 
in all things ; and is the first and chief petition, Matt. 
vi. 9 ; and is the end of all our acting, 1 Cor. x. 31, 
and was the end of giving the law, Rom. iii. 19, 20. 
God made all things for Christ, and would have Him 
have the pre-eminence in all, Col. i. 17, 18, that the 
Father may be glorified in the Son, John xiv. 13. 
And this property of it is a great argument to prove, 
that it is the way of God, and has the character of His 
image stamped upon it. We may say, that it is like 
Him, and a way according to His heart ; as Christ 
proves His doctrine to be of God, by this argument, 
John vii. 18.. And Paul proves the doctrine of justifi- 
cation, and of sanetification, and salvation by grace 
through faith, to be of God ; because it excludes all 
boastings of the creature, Rom. iii. 27, 28, 1 Cor. i. 29, 
30, 31, Eph. iii. 8, 9. This property appears evidently 
in the mystery of sanetification by Christ in us through 
faith. For, 

1. It shows, that we can do nothing by our natural 
will or any power of the flesh ; and that God will not 
enable us to do anything that way, Rom. vii. 18, how- 
ever nature be stirred up by the law, or natural helps, 
Gal. iii. 21. And so it serves to work self-loathing and 
abasement, and to make us look upon nature as des- 
perately wicked, and past cure, and not to be reform- 
ed, but put off, by putting on Christ. It remains 
wicked, and only wicked, after we have put on Christ. 

2. It shows that all our good works, and living to 
God, are not by our own powsr and strength at all, but 
by the power of Christ, living in us by faith; and that 



284 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

God enables us to act, not merely according to our nat- 
ural power, as He enables carnal men and all other 
creatures, but above our own power, by Christ united 
to us and in us, through the Spirit. All men live, 
move, and have their being in Him ; and, by His uni- 
versal support and maintenance of nature in its being 
and activity, they act, Heb. i. 3, so that the glory of 
their actings as creatures belongs to God. But God 
acts more immediately in His people ; who are one 
flesh and one Spirit with Christ ; and who act not by 
their own power, but by the power of the Spirit of 
Christ in them, as closely united to them, and being 
the living temples of His Spirit ; so that Christ is the 
immediate principal agent of all their good works, and 
they are Christ's works properly, who works all our 
works in us and for us : and yet they are the works of 
believers by fellowship with Christ, by whose light and 
power the faculties of the saints act, and are acted, 
Gal. ii. 20, Eph. iii. 16, 17, Col. i. 1 ; so that we are 
to ascribe all our works to God in Christ, and thank 
Him for them as free gifts, 1 Cor. xv. 10, Phil. i. 11. 
God enables us to act, not by ourselves, as He does 
others, but by Himself. The wicked are supported in 
acting only according to their own nature ; so they act 
wickedly : thus all are said to live, move, and have 
their being in God, Acts xvii. 27.^ But God enables us 
to conquer sin, not by ourselves, but by Himself, Hos. 
i. 7; and the glory of enabling us not only belongs to 
Him, which the Pharisee could not but ascribe to Him, 
Luke xviii. 11, but also the glory of doing all in us. 
And yet we work as one with Christ, even as He works 
as one with the Father, by the Father working in Him. 
We live as branches by the juice of the vine, act as 
members by the animal spirits of the head, and bring 
forth fruit by marriage to Him as our husband, and 
work in the strength of Him as the living bread that 
we feed on. He is all in the new man, Col. iii. 11, and 
all the promises are made good in Him, 2 Cor. i. 20. 



XIV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 285 

Secondly , It has this property, that it consists well 
with other doctrines of the Gospel; which contrary 
errors do not. And hence this is the way to confirm us 
in many other points of the Gospel ; and therefore ap- 
pears to be true by its harmony with other truths, and 
fit linking with them in the same golden chain of the 
mystery of godliness ; and evidences them to be true 
by their harmony with it. I have showed, that men's 
mistaking the true way of sanctification, is the cause 
of perverting the Scriptures in other points of faith, 
and of declining from the truth, to Popish, Socinian, 
and Armenian tenets ; because men cannot seriously 
take that for truth, which they judge not to be ac- 
cording to godliness. But this way of holiness will 
evidence, that these gospel doctrines which they refuse, 
are according to godliness ; and that those tenets which 
a blind zeal for holiness moves them to embrace, are 
indeed contrary to holiness : however Satan appears 
to their natural understandings as an angel of light in 
such tenets. Whatever men say, it is certain that 
legalists are indeed the Antinomians. I shall instance in 
-some truths confirmed by it. 

1. The doctrine of original sin, viz. not only the guilt 
of Adam's sin, and a corrupt nature, but utter impo- 
tency to do spiritual good, and proneness to sin, which 
is death to God, and all people according to nature, Ps. 
li. 5, Rom. v. 12. There is an utter inability to keep 
the law truly in any point. Many deny this doctrine ; 
because they think, that, if people believe this, they 
will excuse their sins by it, and be apt to despair of all 
striving to do good works, and leave off all endeavors, 
and grow licentious ; and they think it will be more 
conducive to godliness to hold and teach, either that 
there is no original sin, or corruption, derived from 
Adam, or at least, it is done away, either in the world, 
by universal redemption, or, in the church, by baptism : 
and that there is free will restored, whereby people are 
able to incline themselves to do good, that men may be 



286 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT 

more encouraged to set up good works, and their neg- 
lect be made inexcusable. All this is indeed forcible 
against seeking and endeavoring for holiness by the 
free will and power of nature ; which is the way of 
endeavoring which I directed you to avoid ; and, if there 
were no new way to holiness since the fall, original sin 
might make us despair ; but there is a new birth, a new 
heart, a new creature ; and therefore we have directed 
you to the seeking of holiness, by the Spirit of Christ, 
and freely willing good by a spiritual power, as new 
creatures, partakers of a divine nature in Christ. Yea, 
it is necessary to know the first Adam that we may 
know the second, Rom. v. 12 ; to believe the fall and 
original sin, that we may be stirred up to fly to Christ 
by faith for holiness by free gift, knowing that we can- 
not attain it by our own power and free will, 2 Cor. i. 
9, Matt. ix. 12, 13, Rom. vii. 24, 25, 2 Cor. iii. 3, Eph. 
v. 14. There were no need of a new man or a new 
creation, if the old were not without strength and life, 
John iii. 5, 6, Eph. ii. 8. But original deadness cannot 
hinder God's working faith, and hungerings and thirst- 
ings after Christ, by the Spirit through the Gospel, in 
those that God chooses to walk holily and blamelessly 
before Him in love, 1 Thess. i. 4, 5, Acts xxvi. 18. 
And so we are made alive in a new head, and become 
branches of another vine, living to God by the Spirit, 
not by nature. 

2. It confirms us in the doctrine of predestination, 
which many deny, because, they say, it takes men off 
from endeavor, as fruitless, by telling them, that all 
events are predetermined. This argument would be more 
forcible against endeavors by the power of our own 
free will, but not at all against endeavors for holiness 
by the operation of God, giving us faith and all holiness 
by His own Spirit working in us through Christ ; we 
are to trust on Christ for the grace of the elect, and 
God's good-will towards men, Matt. iii. 17, Luke ii. 14, 
Ps. cvi. 4, o. Election by grace destroys seeking by 



XIV.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 287 

works but not by grace, Rom. xi. 5, 6. And we are 
here taught to seek for salvation only in the way of the 
elect, and we may conclude that holiness is to be had 
by God's will, and not by our own ; and it may move 
us to desire holiness by the will of God, Rom. ix. 16, 
Ps. ex. 3. And, seeing it appears, by this doctrine of 
sanctification through Christ, that we are God's work- 
manship as to all the good wrought in us, Phil. ii. 12, 
13, Eph. ii. 10, we may well admit, that He has ap- 
pointed His pleasure from eternity, without infringing 
the natural liberty of our corrupt wills, which reaches 
not unto good works, Acts xv. 18, compared with 36. 
Man's natural free will may well consist with God's de- 
cree ; as in Paradise, Decretum radix contingentice. 

3. It confirms us in the true doctrine of justification 
and reconciliation with God by faith, relying on the 
merits of Christ's blood, without any works of our own; 
and without considering faith as a work to procure fa- 
vor by the righteousness of the act, but only as a hand 
to receive the gift, or as the very eating and drinking 
of Christ actually, rather than any kind of condition 
entitling us to Him as our food. This great doctrine of 
the Gospel many hate, as breaking the strongest bonds 
of holiness, and opening a way to all licentiousness ; for 
the)' reckon that the conditionality of works to attain 
God's favor, and to avoid His wrath, and the necessity 
of them to salvation, are the most necessary and effect- 
ual impulsives to all holiness ; and they account, that 
the other doctrine opens the flood-gates to licentious- 
ness. And truly this consideration would be of some 
weight, if people were to be brought to holiness by 
moral persuasion, and their natural endeavors stirred 
up by the terms of the law, and by slavish fears and 
mercenary hopes ; for the force of these motives would 
be altogether enervated by the doctrine of justification 
by free grace. But I have already showed, that man 
being a guilty, dead creature, cannot be brought to 
serve God out of love, by the force of any of these 



288 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

motives ; and that we are not sanctified by any of our 
own endeavors to work holiness in ourselves, but rather 
by faith in Christ's death and resurrection, even the same 
whereby we are justified ; and that the urging o( the 
law stirs up sin ; and that freedom from it is necessary 
to all holiness, as the Apostle teaches, Rom. vi. 11, 
14, and vii. 4, 5. And this way of sanctification con- 
firms the doctrine of justification by faith, as the 
Apostle informs us, Rom. viii. 1. For, if we are sancti- 
fied, and so restored to the image of God and life, by the 
Spirit, through faith, it is evident, that God has taken 
us into His favor, and pardoned our sins, by the same 
faith, without the law ; or else we should not thereby 
have the fruits and effects of His favor to our eternal 
salvation, Rom. viii. 2. Yea, His justice would not 
admit His giving life without works, if we were not 
made righteous in Christ by the same faith. And we 
cannot trust, to have holiness freely given us by Christ, 
upon any rational ground ; except we can also trust on 
the same Christ for free reconciliation, and forgiveness 
of sins for our justification ; neither, can guilty, cursed 
creatures, who cannot work by reason of their deadness 
under the curse, be brought to a rational love of God, 
except they apprehend His loving them first freely, 
without works, 1 John iv. 19. The great objection, and 
reason of so many controversies and books written about 
it, is, because they think that ^men will trust to be 
saved, however they live. But sanctification is an ef- 
fect of justification, and flows from the same grace ; 
and we trust for them both by the same faith, and for 
the latter in order to the former. And such a faith, 
be it ever so confident, tends not to licentiousness, but 
to holiness ; and we grant, that justification by grace 
destroys holiness by legal endeavors, but not by grace. 
So that there is no need to live a Papist, and die an 
Antinomian. 

4. It confirms us in the doctrine of real union with 
Christ, so plentifully held forth in Scripture; which 



XIV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 289 

doctrine some account a vain notion, and cannot endure 
it, because they think it works not holiness, but pre- 
sumption ; whereas, I have showed, that it is absolutely 
necessary for the enjoyment of spiritual life and holi- 
ness, which is treasured up in Christ ; and that so in- 
separably, that we cannot have it without a real union 
with Him, 2 Cor. xiii. 5, 1 John v. 12, John vi. 53, and 
xv. 15. 1 Cor. i. 30, Col. iii. 11. The members and 
branches cannot live without union with the vine and 
head : nor the stones be part of the living temple, ex- 
cept they be really joined mediately or immediately to 
the corner-stone. 

5. It confirms us in the doctrine of certain, final per- 
severance of the saints, John iii. 36, vi. 37, and v. 24, 
1 John iii. 9, 1 Thess. v. 24, Phil. i. 6, John x. 23, 29, 
and iv. 14. They think this doctrine makes people 
careless of good works. I answer, it makes people 
careless of seeking them by their own natural strength, 
and in a way of slavish fear ; but careful and cour- 
ageous in trusting on the grace of God for them, when 
they are brought, 1 y regeneration, heartily to desire 
them, Rom. vi. 14, Num. xiii. 30, setting about the 
doing of them in that grace, 1 Thess. v. 8, 11. And 1 
have showed, that all fears of damnation will never 
bring persons to work from the impulse of love ; and 
that nothing will do it but a comfortable doctrine. 

Thirdly, It has this excellent property, that it is the 
never-failing, effectually powerful, alone sufficient, and 
sure way to attain to true holiness. They that have 
..ie truth in them, find it; and the truly humbled find 
it. People strive in vain, when they seek it any other 
way ; therefore venture with the lepers, else you die, 2 
Kings vii. Isa. Iv. 2, 3, 7. All other ways either stir 
up sin, or increase despair in you; as seeking holiness 
by the law, and working under the curse does ; and 
produces but slavish, hypocritical obedience afc best, and 
restrains sin only, instead of mortifying it, Gal. iv. 2fi. 
The Jews sought another way, and could not attain ; t 

25 



290 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [ DIRECT. 

Rom. ix. And all who seek it another way shall lie 
down in sorrow, Isa. li. 11. And that (1.) Because, 
as we are under the law in our natural state, we are 
dead, and children of wrath, Eph. ii. 1, 3, and the law 
curses us instead of helping us, Gal. iii. 10, and gives 
no life by its obligation, Gal. iii. 21 ; and we cannot work 
holiness in ourselves, Rom. v. 6. So that an humbled 
person finds it in vain, to seek holiness by the law, or 
his own strength ; for the law is weak through our 
flesh. Seeking a pure life without a pure nature, is 
building without a foundation. And there is no seek- 
ing a new nature from the law ; for it bids us make 
brick without straw ; and saith to the cripple, Walk, 
without giving any strength. 

(2.) In this way only God is reconciled to us, even 
in Christ, 2 Cor. v. 19, Eph. i. 7. And so He loves us, 
and is a fit object of our love, 1 John iv. 19. And so, 
in this way only, we have a new and divine nature by 
the Spirit of Christ in us, effectually canying us forth 
to holiness with life and love, Rom. viii. 5, Gal. v. 17, 
2 Pet. i. 3, 4 ; and have new hearts according to the 
law ; so that we serve God heartily according to the 
new nature, and cannot but serve Him, 1 John iii. 9. 
So that here is a sure foundation for godliness, and love 
to God with all our heart, might and soul ; and sin is 
not only restrained, but mortified ; and not only the 
outside made clean, but the inside; and the image of 
God renewed ; and holy actings surely follow. We 
sin not according to the old nature, though we are not per- 
fect in degree, because of the old nature remaining in us. 

Fourthly, It is a most pleasant way to those that are 
in it, Prov. iii. 17, and that in several respects. 

1 . It is a most plain way, easy to be found, to one 
who sees his own deadness under the law, and is so re- 
newed in the spirit of his mind, as to know and be per- 
suaded of the truth of the Gospel. Though such may be 
troubled with many legal thoughts and workings ; yet, 
when they seriously consider things, the way is so plain 



XIV.j OF SANCTIFICATION 291 

that they think it folly and madness to go any other way : 
so that the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err 
therein, Isa. xxxv. 8, Prov. viii. 9. The enlightened 
soul cannot think of another way, when truly humbled, 
Prov. i. 8. And when we are in Christ, we have His 
Spirit to be our guide in this way, 1 John ii. 27, John 
xvi. 13. So that we need not be filled with such dis- 
tracting thoughts, about knowledge of our way, as legal 
spirits are about thousands of cases of conscience, which 
so multiply upon them that they despair of finding out 
the way of religion, by reason of such various doubts, 
and manifold intricacies. Here, we may be sure, that 
God will so far teach us our duties as that we shall not 
be misled with error, so as to continue in it to destruc- 
tion, Ps. xxv. 8, 9, 14. What a trouble is it to a trav- 
eller to be doubtful of his way, and without a guide, 
when his business is of great importance, upon life and 
death ! It is even a heart-breaking. But those who 
are in this way, may be sure, that though they some- 
times err, yet they shall not err destructively, but shall 
discern their way again, Gal. iv. 7, 10. 

2. It is easy to those who walk in it, by the Spirit, 
though it be difficult to get into it, by reason of the 
opposition of the flesh or devil scaring us, or seducing 
us from it. Here you have holiness as a free gift re- 
ceived by faith, an act of the mind and soul. Whoso- 
ever will, may come, take it, and drink freely ; and 
nothing is required but a willing mind, John vii. 38, 
Isa. Iv. 1, Rev. xxii. 17. But the law is an intolerable 
burden, Matt, xxiii. 5, Acts xv. 10, if duty be laid on 
us by its terms. We are not left in this way to con- 
quer lusts by our endeavors, which is a hopeless work ; 
but what is duty is given, and the law is turned into 
promises, Heb. viii. Ezek. xxxi. 25, 26, Jer. xxxi. 33, 
and xxxii. 40. We have all now in Christ, Col. iii. 11, 
and ii. 9, 10, 15, 17. This is a catholic medicine, in- 
stead of a thousand. How pleasant would this free 
gift, holiness, be to us, if we knew our own wants, in* 



292 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

abilities, and sinfulness ! How ready are some to toil 
continually, and macerate their bodies in a melancholy 
legal way, to get holiness, rather than perish forever ! 
And therefore how ready should we be when it is only, 
take and have : believe, and be sanctified and saved ! 2 
Kings v. 13. Christ's burden is light by His Spirit's 
bearing it, Matt. xi. 30. Ttfo weariness, but renewing 
of strength, Isa. xl. 31. 

3. It is a way of peace, Prov. iii. 17, free from the 
fears and terrors of conscience, which those unavoid- 
ably meet with who seek salvation by works ; for the 
law worketh wrath, Rom. iv. 15. It is not the way of 
Mount Sinai, but of Jerusalem, Heb. xii. 18, 22. The 
doubts of salvation that people meet with, arise from 
putting some condition of works between Christ and 
themselves ; as has appeared in this discourse. But 
our walking in this way, is by faith, which rejects such 
fears and doubts, John xiv. 1, Mark v. 36, Heb. x. 19, 
22. It is free from fears of Satan or any evil, Rom. 
viii. 31, 32, and free from slavish fears of perishing by 
our sins, 1 John ii. 1, 2, Phil. iv. 6, 1 ; faith laying hold 
on infinite grace, mercy, and power to secure us ; the 
Lord is the keeper and shade on the right hand, Psal. 
cxxi. 5. Free and powerful grace answers all objec- 
tions. 

4. It is a way that is paved- with love, like Solo- 
mon's chariot, Song iii. 10. We are to set God's lov- 
ing-kindness and all the gifts of His love still before our 
eyes, Psal. xxvi. 2 ; Christ's death, resurrection, inter- 
cession, before our eyes ; which excite peace, joy, 
hope, love, Rom. xv. 15, Isa. xxxv. 10. You must 
believe, for your justification, adoption, the gift of 
the Spirit, and a future inheritance ; your death 
and resurrection with Christ. In believing for these 
things, your whole way is adorned with flowers, and 
has these fruits growing on each side ; so that it 
is through the garden of Eden, rather than the wilder- 
ness of Sinai, Actsix. 31. It is the office of the Spirit 



XIV.] OF SANCTIFICATION. 293 

or guide to be our comforter, and not a spirit of bond- 
age, Rom. viii. 15. Peace and joy are great duties in 
this way, Phil. iv. 4, 5, 6. God does not drive us on 
with whips and terrors, and by the rod of the school- 
master, the law ; but leads us, and wins us to walk in 
His ways, by allurements, Song i. 3, Hos. xi. 3, 4. See 
such allurements, 2 Cor. v. 15, and vii. 1, Rom. xii. 1. 

5. Our very moving, acting, walking, in this way, is 
a pleasure and delight. Every good work is done with 
pleasure ; the very labor of the way is pleasant. Car- 
nal men with duties were not necessary, and they are 
burdensome to them ; but they are pleasant to us ; be- 
cause we do not gain holiness by our own carnal 
wrestling with our lusts, and crossing them, out of 
carnal fear, with regret and grief, and setting con- 
science and the law against them, to hinder their act- 
ings ; but we act naturally, according to the new na- 
ture, and perform our new spiritual desires by walking 
in the ways of God through Christ ; and our lusts and 
pleasures in sin, are not only restrained, but taken away 
in Christ ; and pleasures in holiness freely given us, and 
implanted in us, Psal. viii. 5, G-al. v. 17, 24, John iv. 
34, Psal. xl. 8, and cxix. 14, 16, 20. We have a new 
taste and savor, love and liking, by the Spirit of Christ ; 
and look on the law not as a burden, but as our priv- 
ilege in Christ. 

Fifthly, It is a high exalted way above all other 
ways. Unto this way the prophet Habakkuk is exalted, 
when upon the failure of all visible helps and supports, 
he resolves to rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God 
of his salvation, and making God his strength by faith, 
his feet should be as hinds' feet, and should walk upon 
His high places, Heb. iii. 18, 19. These are the heav- 
enly places in Christ Jesus, that God has set us in, being 
quickened and raised up together with Him, Eph. ii. 5, 6. 

1. We live high here ; for we live not after the flesh, 
♦but after the Spirit, and Christ in us, with all His ful- 
ness, Rom. viii. 1, 2, Gal. ii. 20, and v. 25. We walk in 
25* 



294 THE GOSPEL-MYSTERY [DIRECT. 

fellowship with God dwelling in us, and walking in us, 
2 Cor. vi. 16, 18. And therefore our works are of 
higher price and excellence, than the works of others ; 
because they are wrought in God, John ii. 21, and are 
the fruits of God's Spirit, Gal. v. 23, Phil. i. 11, and 
we may know, that they are accepted and good, by 
our gospel principles, which others have not, Rom. 
vii. 6. 

2. We are enabled to the most difficult duties, 
Phil. iv. 1, 3, and nothing is too hard for us. See the 
great works done by faith, Heb. xi., Mark ix. 23, works 
that carnal men think folly and madness to venture 
upon, (they are so great,) and honorable achievements 
in doing and suffering for Christ. 

3. We walk in an honorable state with God, and on 
honorable terms ; not as guilty creatures, to get our 
pardon by works, nor as bond servants, to earn our 
meat and drink ; but as sons and heirs, walking 
towards the full possession of that happiness to which 
we have a title ; and so we have much boldness in 
God's presence, Gal. iv. 6, 7. We can approach nearer 
to God than others, and walk before Him confidently, 
without slavish fear ; not as strangers, but as such who 
are of His own family, Eph. ii. 19, 20. And this prompts 
us to do greater things than others ; walking as free 
men, Rom. vi. 17, 18, John viii. 35, 36. It is a kingly 
way ; the law to us is a royal law, a law of liberty and 
our privilege ; not a bond and yoke of compulsion. 

4. It is the way only of those that are honorable, 
precious in the eyes of the Lord, even His elect and re- 
deemed ones, whose special privilege it is to walk 
therein ; no unclean beast goeth there, Isa. xxxv. 8, 9. 
No carnal men can walk in this way, but only those 
who are taught of God, John vi. 44, 45, 46. Nor 
would it have come into our hearts without divine reve- 
lation. 

5. The preparing this way cost Christ very dear. It 
is a costly way, Heb. x. 19, 20, 1 Peter iii. 18. 



XIV.J OF SANCTIFICATION. 295 

6. It is a good old way wherein, thou may est follow 
the footsteps of all the flock. 

7. It is the way to perfection. It leads to such ho- 
liness, which shall, in a while, be absolutely perfect. It 
differs only in the degree and manner of manifestation, 
from the holiness of heaven : there the saints live by 
the same Spirit ; and the same God is all in all, 1 Cor. 
xv. 28, John iv. 14 ; and have the image of the same 
spiritual man, 1 Cor. xv. 49. Only here we have but 
the first fruits of the Spirit, Rom. viii. 24, and live by 
faith, and not by sight, 2 Cor. v. 7, and are not full 
grown in Christ, Eph. iv. 13. Sanctification in Christ, 
is glorification begun, as glorification is sanctification 
perfected. 



THE 



DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

OPENED AND APPLIED. 



" For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. 

Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus 

Christ : 
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, 

to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through 

the forbearance of God ; 
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that He might be just and 

the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."— Rom. iii. 23, 24, 25, 26. 

The Apostle, having, in his preceding discourse, con- 
futed and overthrown all justification, either of Jew or 
Gentile, by works, is now proving, what he asserted, 
ver. 21, 22, viz. " That the righteousness of God 
without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the 
law and the prophets ; even the^righteousness of God 
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all 
them that believe ; for there is no difference :" show- 
ing, that, now in the gospel times, there is no difference 
between Jew and Gentile ; but that, in the justification 
of both, the righteousness of God without the law is 
manifested. This he proves, by showing what the 
Gospel teaches concerning the way of justification ; for 
the Gospel only reveals the righteousness of God, Rom. 
i. 16, 17: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of 
Christ : for therein is the righteousness of God reveal- 
ed from faith to faith.'' 

So the words are a declaration of the gospel way 



THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION. 297 

of justification by the righteousness of God; and that 
so clearly and fully, and the benefit spoken of so great 
and glorious, being the first benefit that we receive by 
union with Christ, and the foundation of all other ben- 
efits ; that my text is accounted to be evangeUum 
evangelii, a principal part of the written Gospel, as 
briefly, and yet fully expressing this excellent point 
more than any other text. 

Note in the words particularly, the subject declared 
and explained, viz. justification of persons, or their 
being justified: and the meaning of it here is to be 
cleared and freed from all ambiguities and misunder- 
standing. Justification signifies making just, as sancti- 
fication is making holy, glorification making glorious ; 
but not making just by infusion of grace and holiness 
into a person, as the Papists teach, confounding justi- 
fication and sanctification together ; but making just, in 
trial and judgment, by a judicial sentence discharging 
guilt, freeing from blame and accusation; approving, 
judging, owning, and pronouncing a person to be right- 
eous. Use alters the signification from the notation. 
It is a juridical word, or law-term, and has reference to 
trial and judgment, 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4 : " With me it is a 
very small thing, that I should be judged of you, or of 
man's judgment : yea, I judge not mine own self ; for I 
know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified : 
but He that judgeth me is the Lord." And it is so op- 
posed to condemnation in judgment, Deut. xxv. 1 : "If 
there be a controversy between men, and they come 
unto judgment, that the judges may judge them, then 
they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the 
wicked. And, Matt. xii. 37: "By thy words thou 
shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be con- 
demned." And it is opposed both to accusation and 
condemnation, Rom. viii. 33, 34 : "Who shall lay any- 
thing to the charge of God's elect ? Who is he that 
condemneth ?" And so, Job ix. 20 : " If I justify my- 
self, my own mouth shall condemn me ;" chap. xiii. 15 : 



298 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

" I will maintain mine own ways before Him ;" ver. 18 
" I have ordered my cause ; I know that I shall be jus 
tified ;" ver. 19 : " Who is he that will plead with me V 
Here justification is plainly opposed to the accusation 
or fault. And it is as plainly opposed to the passing 
sentence of condemnation, 1 Kings viii. 32 : " Do, and 
judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring 
his way upon his head, and justifying the righteous, to 
give him according to his righteousness. " In this sense 
it is a sin to justify the wicked, Isa. v. 23, Prov. xvii. 
15, Job xxvii. 5. Actions must be existent already, 
and brought to trial, that they may be justified, Job 
xxxiii. 32 ; Isa. xliii. 9, 26. 

Justice or righteousness consists not in the intrinsic 
nature of an action, but in its agreeableness to a rule 
of judgment ; so that actions are called just, and right- 
eous, by an extrinsic denomination, with relation to 
God's rule of judging. And this righteousness ap- 
pears, by trying the action according to the rule, and 
by making an estimate of it ; which estimate is either 
approving or disproving, justifying or condemning, find- 
ing it to be sin or no sin, or breach of the law. So we 
may say of the righteousness of persons, with reference 
to such habits or actings. And, because the righteous- 
ness of righteous persons appears when they are 
brought to trial and judgmentrtherefore they are said 
then to be in a special manner justified, as if they were 
then made righteous ; viz. when their righteousness is 
declared ; as Christ was said to be begotten the Son 
of God at the resurrection, Acts iii. 33, because He was 
then declared to be the Son of God, Rom. i. 4. And, 
in the same sense, we who are adopted at present, are 
said to wait for our adoption, that is, the manifestation 
of it, Rom. viii. 23. And thus even God is said to be 
justified, when w r e judge of His actions as we ought to 
do, and deem them to be righteous, Job xxxii. 2, Ps. li. 
4, Luke vii. 29 ; though nothing can be added to the 
infinite righteousness of God. And wisdom is said to 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 299 

be justified of her children, Matt. xi. 19. So, justifica- 
tion is not a real change of a sinner in himself, (though 
a real change is annexed to it,) but only a relative 
change with reference to God's judgment. And thus 
the word is used in the text, and so also in matters of 
judicature throughout the Scripture. Yea, some con- 
tend against the Papists, that it is nowhere in Scrip- 
ture used otherwise, except by a trope borrowed from 
this as the proper sense. And, in the text, it is beyond 
all doubt meant of being deemed and accounted just in 
the sight of God ; for such a justification is here only 
treated of, as appears in the text, and before, ver. 19, 
20. And I have been the longer explaining the sense 
of the word, because the mistaking it, by reason of its 
composition, occasioned that Popish error, whereby the 
benefit signified by it is obscured, yea overthrown : so 
that we have need to contend for the sense of the 
word. 

In the text we have, 

1. The persons justified, (1.) Sinners. (2.) Such sin- 
ners of all sorts as shall believe, whether Jews or Gen- 
tiles. 

2. The justifier, or efficient cause, God. 

3. The impulsive cause, grace. 

4. The means effecting, or material cause, the re- 
demption of Christ. 

5. The formal cause, the remission of sins. 

6. The instrumental cause, faith. 

7. The time of declaring, the present time. 

8. The end, that God may appear just. 

From hence, therefore, will arise several useful ob- 
servations, all tending to explain the nature of justifica- 
tion ; which shall be laid down, and cleared out of the 
text, and confirmed particularly : and then I shall make 
use of them altogether. 

Observ. I. "They who are justified, are sinners, 
such as have come short of the glory of God," that is, 
of God's approbation, John v. 44 ; of God's image of 



300 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

holiness, 2 Cor. iii. 18, Eph. iv. 24 ; df eternal happi- 
ness, 1 Thess. ii. 12, Rom. v. 2, 2 Cor. iv. 17. 

1. The law condemns all sinners, and strikes them 
dead, as with a thunderbolt, Rom. iii. 20, and adjudges 
them to shame, confusion, and misery instead of glory 
and happiness, by the strict terms of it, Rom. ii. 6-9, 
11, 12 ; which none fulfil, neither can do, Rom. viii. 7, 
neither Jews nor Gentiles. There is no hope, if free 
grace restore them not. 

2. Christ came only to save sinners, and died for this 
end, Rom. v. 6 : " When we were yet without strength, 
in due time Christ died for the ungodly/' And, 1 Tim. 
i. 15 : "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all ac- 
ceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 
sinners, of whom I am chief ;" Matt. x. 13 : "I am not 
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," 
Matt, xviii. 11 : " The Son of Man is come to save that 
which was lost." And God must be believed on to 
salvation, as a God who justifies the ungodly ; he must 
believe, as one who works not, on Him who justifies 
the ungodly, Rom .iv. 5. 

Observ. II. " Sinners of all sort^ . who believe, with- 
out difference, whether Jews or Gentiles, are the sub- 
jects of this justification." This is the scope of the 
Apostle, to show that whereas Jews and Gentiles were 
universally condemned by the lighLand law of nature, or 
the law written ; so the righteousness of God is upon 
aU. them that believe, ver. 21, 22, without difference. 
This was a great point to be defended against the Jews 
in the Apostle's times, who appropriated justification to 
themselves, in a legal way, and to such as were prose- 
lytes to the law and circumcision ; and, therefore, the 
apostle Paul vehemently urged it, Rom. x. 11, 12. 
And it was a point newly revealed to the Apostles, that 
the Gentiles might be accepted without turning Jews, 
and much prized as a very glorious revelation, Acts x. 
28, 45, Eph. iii. 4, 5, 8, Col. i. 25, 26, 27. And it is 
confirmed. 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 301 

1. Because notwithstanding the Jews' privilege of the 
law, by reason of breaking the law, they had as much 
need of free justification as the Gentiles, and no wor- 
thiness above the Gentiles by their works, but were 
rather greater sinners, Rom. ii. 23, 24. And when there 
is equal need and worth, God might righteously justify 
sne as well as another, Rom. iii. 9. 

2. God is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the 
Jews, Rom. iii. 29, as He promised, Rom. iv. 9, 12, 13, 
Gal. iii. 8, Isa. xix. 25, Zech. xiv. 9. 

3. Abraham was justified before he was circumcised, 
that he might be the father of those that believe, though 
uncircumcised, that they might inherit the same bless- 
ing, Rom. iv. 10, 11, 12. 

4. This will appear further, by showing, that justifi- 
cation is only by faith, and without dependence upon 
the law, merely by the righteousness of another; and 
so Jews and Gentiles are alike capable of it. 

Observ. III. " That the justifier, or efficient cause 
of justification, is God." It is an act of God, Rom. viii. 
33. It is God that justifieth. He only can justify au- 
thoritatively and irrev >*sibly. 

1 . Because He is the . lawgiver, and has power to 
save and destroy, James iv. 12. This case concerns 
God's law, and can only be tried at His tribunal. He 
is the judge of the world, Gen. xviii. 25. It is a small, 
worthless thing to be justified by man, or by ourselves 
merely, 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4. 

2. To Him the debt of suffering for sin, and acting 
r ghteousness, is owed ; and therefore He only can 
give a discharge for payment, or a release of the debtor, 
Ps. Ii. 4, Mark ii. 7. 

Observ. IV. " God justifieth souls freely by His 
grace, (doyeo* je uvt8 x <x Q ni ) by His grace !" One of 
the expressions had been enough ;• but this redoubling it 
shows the importance of the truth, to quicken our atten- 
tion the more. Here is the impulsive cause of justifica- 
tion, and His free manner of bestowing it accordingly. 



302 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

And this signifies God's free, undeserved favor, in opposi* 
tion to any works of our righteousness, where- by it might 
be challenged as a debt to us, Rom. iv. 4 : " Now to him 
that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but 
of debt." Chap, xi.6 : " If by grace, then it is no more 
of works : otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be 
of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no 
more work." Eph. ii. 8, 9 : " By grace are ye saved, 
through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift 
of God : not of works, lest any man should boast." 2 
Tim. i. 9 : " Who has saved us, and called us with a holy 
calling, not according to our works, but according to His 
own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ 
Jesus before the world began." Verse 10 : But is now 
made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus 
Christ," &c. Grace is mercy and love showed freely, 
out of God's proper motion ; showing mercy, because 
He will show mercy ; and loving us, because He will 
love us, Rom. ix. 15. And this is confirmed, 

1. Because there was not, nor is anything in us, but 
what might move God to condemn us ; for we have all 
sinned, Eph. ii. 3, Ezek. xvi. 6. 

2. Because God would take away boasting, and 
have His grace glorified and exalted in our salvation. 
He will have all the praise and glory, though we have 
the blessedness, Eph. ii. 7, 9. ^That, in the ages to 
come, He might show the exceeding riches of His 
grace, in his kindness towards us, through Christ 
Jesus." And so Rom. iii. 27. 

Observ. V. " God justifieth sinners through the 
redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set 
forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." 
This is the effecting means or material cause of our jus- 
tification, viz. redemption and propitiation through the 
blood of Christ ; which is the righteousness of God 
treasured up in Him. 

By redemption, is meant properly such a deliverance 
as is by paying a price ; and so the words redeem and 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 303 

redemption, are frequently used, Exod. xiii. 13, Numb, 
iii. 48, 49, 51, Lev. xxv. 24, 51, 52, Jer. xxxii. Y, 8, 
Neh. v. 8. From this proper signification it is borrow- 
ed, to signify a deliverance without price, Luke xxi. 28, 
Eph. i. 14, and iv. 30 ; or rather by a metonymy of 
the cause, put for the highest effect, the state of glory, 
so that the state of glory is called redemption, as being 
thecompleting and crowning effect of Christ's redemp- 
tion ; therefore it is called the purchased possession. 

By a propitiation, is meant, that which appeases the 
wrath of God for sin, and wins His favor. And this 
propitiation of Christ is two ways typified ; first, In 
the propitiatory sacrifices, whose blood was shed ; and 
2dly, by the mercy-seat ; which was called the pro- 
pitiation, because it covered the ark, wherein was 
the law ; and the blood of the sacrifices for atonement 
was sprinkled by the high priest before it. And this 
mercy-seat was a sign of God's favor to a sinful people, 
in residing among them, and was called (iluserion) Heb. 
ix. 5. 

Now, this doctrine appears confirmed for these rea- 
sons. 

1. Because Christ, by the will of God, gave Himself 
a ransom for us to redeem us from sin and punishment, 
wrath and curse; Tit. ii. 14. "He gave himself for 
us, to redeem us from all iniquity," he gave himself tc 
death for us : was delivered for our offences ; His death 
was the price of our redemption, that we might be jus- 
tified in God's sight. God gave him up to death, he 
spared him not, that we might be righteousness, 1 Cor. 
i. 30, and Matt. xx. 28 ; " He gave his own life a ran- 
som for many ;" and so, 1 Tim ii. 6, He " bought us 
with this price," 1 Cor. vi. 20. " He redeemed us not 
with silver and gold, but with His precious blood, as of 
a lamb without a spot," 1 Pet. i. 18,- 19, 2 Pet. ii. 1, 
Rev. v. 9. He suffered the penalty due to us for sin : 
1 Pet. ii. 24. "He bare our sins in his own body on 
the tree," Gal. iii. 13. "He was made a curse for us," 



304 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

and thereby redeemed us from the curse of the law : 
and, that He might be made a curse, He was made sin 
for us, 2 Cor. v. 21, Isa. liii. 5, 6. He subjected him- 
self to the law, in active as well as passive obedience, 
Gal. iv. 4, and obeyed his Father even to death, doing 
and suffering at his commandment, John xiv. 31, Heb. x. 
7 ; and his obedience was for our justification. Com- 
pare Rom. v. 10, with Phil. hi. 8, 9. So Christ satisfied 
both for our debt of righteousness and debt of punish- 
ment ; for our faultiness, taint of sin, and want of right- 
eousness, as well as for our guilt, and liability to pun- 
ishment ; that we might be free from wrath, and 
deemed righteous in God's sight. His sufferino- was 

o o o 

the consummating act of redemption ; and so all is at- 
tributed to it, Heb. ii. 9, 10, even to His blood ; though 
other doings and sufferings concur, 2 Cor. via. 9. We 
ire righteous by Him, as we were guilty by Adam, Rom. 
r. 12. 

2. God accepted this price as a satisfaction to his 
justice, which He showed in raising Christ from the 
dead, and so acquitting Him from all our sins : " He 
was justified in the Spirit/' 1 Tim. iii. 16, for us ; Rom. 
iv. 25 ; "raised for our justification." See Rom. viii. 33 
34. "It is God that justifieth : who is he that con- 
deraneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is 
lisen from the dead." And Heb. x. 14: " By one 
offering He has perfected forever them that are sancti- 
fied." And Eph. v. 2 : " This sacrifice was a sweet- 
bmelling savor unto God." If Christ had sunk under 
the weight of our sins, and had not been raised, the 
payment had not been finished, and so the debt not dis- 
charged, John xvi. 10. " Of righteousness, because I 
go to my Father." 

3. This redemption is in Christ, as to the benefit of 
it; so that it cannot be had, except we be in Christ, 
and have Christ; so the text expresses and shows, that 
he is the propitiation ; and as such, he is our righteous- 
ness, 1 Cor. i. 30. We have redemption and right- 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 303 

eousness in Him, Eph. i. 7, 2 Cor. v. 21, and therein 
our freedom from condemnation, Rom. viii. 1 . Christ 
died that His seed might be justified, Isa. liii. 10, 
1 1 ; those that are in Him by spiritual generation, 1 
Cor. iv. 15. 

Observ. VI. " The formal cause of justification, or 
that wherein it consists, is the remission of sins, that is, 
not only the guilt and punishment is removed, but the 
fault ; because it is a pardon grounded on justice, which 
cleareth the fault also. By Him we are justified from 
all things that the law charges us with," Acts xiii. 
39. 

In men subject to a law, there is no middle condition 
between not imputing sin, and imputing righteousness : 
and so these terms are used as equivalent ; Acts xiii. 38, 
39. " Through this man is preached the forgiveness of 
sins; and by him all that believe are justified," &c, 
Rom. iv. 6, 7, 8, 2 Cor. v. 19, 21, Rom. v. 17. This 
is through the blood of Christ, Eph. i. 7, Matt. xxvi. 28. 

Observ. VII. " God justifieth a sinner through 
faith in Christ's blood." Faith is the instrumental 
cause of receiving this benefit, faith in the blood of 
Christ. 

1. This faith is a believing on Christ, that we may be 
justified by Him: Gal. ii. 16. "Knowing that a man is 
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith 
of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ; 
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and 
not by the works of the law." We believe in Christ 
for justification out of a sense of our inability to obtain 
justification by works. 

2. This faith does not justify us, as an act of right- 
eousness, earning and procuring our justification, by 
the work of it, for this would have been justification 
by works, as under the law : diametrically opposite 
to grace, and free gift ; which excludes all consid- 
eration of any works of ours, to be our righteousness, 
under any denomination or diminutive terms whatever, 

26* 



306 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

whether you call it legal or evangelical ; though you 
reckon it no more than the payment of a peppercorn, 
Rom. xi. 6. Faith in this case is accounted as not 
working, Rom. iv. 5. And it is not faith that stands in- 
stead of the righteousness of the law, but the righteous- 
ness of Christ, which satisfies for what we ought to 
have done or suffered ; as has been showed. 

3. God justifies by faith, as the instrument whereby 
we receive Christ and his righteousness ; by which 
we are justified properly ; and we are justified by faith 
only metonymically, by reason of the righteousness re- 
ceived by it : and to be justified by faith and by Christ is 
all one, Gal. iii. 8, Rom. v. 19. By faith we receive 
remission of sins, Acts xxvi. 18, and x. 43. Its effect 
is, the reception of justification, not the working it; 
as a man may be said to be maintained by his hands 
or nourished by his mouth, when those members do but 
receive that which nourishes, namely, his food and 
drink. The cup is put for the liquor in the cup, 1 Cor. 
xi. 26, 27. See Rom. i. 17, and iii. 22. Christ is in us 
by faith, Eph. iii. 17 ; received, ate, drank, John i. 12, 
and vi. 50, 51, 53, 54. 

4. This faith is to be understood exclusively of all 
our works for justification. We defend, against the 
Papists, justification by faith only : And there is no- 
thing more fully expressed in Scripture phrase, Rom, 
iii. 28, Gal. ii. 16, Phil. iii. 8, 9, Rom. iv. 16. 

5. We must understand faith in a full sense, of re- 
ceiving remission of the fault, as well as of the punish- 
ment. We believe, God accounts not the fault to us 
of the least sin. And, where faith is said to be ac- 
counted for righteousness, it is because of the object it 
receives, Rom. iv. 5, 6, 7, 8, 2 Cor. v. 19, 21. We 
believe Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, as our 
sins are to Him ; or else we receive not remission of 
sins by believing: which is contrary to charging us 
with sin and condemnation ; which charging sig- 
nifies imputing sin, Rom. viii. 33, 34. Together with 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 307 

the removal of the charge of sin, we receive the gift of 
righteousness, Rom. v. 17. And this we have in the 
reception of Christ's redemption and bloodshed, Eph. i. 
7, Matt. xxvi. 28. 

Observ. VIII. " That God, in setting forth Christ to 
be a propitiation through faith in His blood aimed to de- 
clare his righteousness now under the Gospel, for the 
remission of sins that are past as well as present ;" of 
those sins that were past, and committed under the 
Old Testament, which was God's time of forbearance, 
in pardoning long before His justice was actually satisfied 
by Christ's atonement, Heb. xiii. 8, Rev. xiii. 8, Matt, 
xviii. 26. The ground of these pardons is now revealed 
by Christ's coming, Isa. li. 5, 7, and lvi. 1, Dan. ix. 
24, 2 Tim. 1, 9, 10, that those pardons may be no 
blemish to the justice of God now satisfied, Exod. xxxiv. 
7, Psal. Ixxv. 10. 

1. By this righteousness is meant that righteousness 
of God mentioned in the proposition, Rom. iii. 21, 22, 
of which the text is but a confirmation ; viz. the right- 
eousness of God ; not His essential righteousness, that 
which is an essential property of God ; but a right- 
eousness, which is upon all them that believe ; Christ's 
righteousness, which is the end of the law, Rom. x. 3, 
4, and therefore called God's righteousness ; that which 
Christ wrought for us, which is given to us, and we re- 
ceive by faith ; that whereby Christ answered the law 
for us ; by which, as the price, He redeemed us ; which 
is called God's righteousness, because it is of God's 
working, and it only has God's acceptance and appro- 
bation ; as Christ is called the Lamb of God, because 
God provided Him and accepts Him as an offering, 
John i. 19. Upon the like account, Christ's kingdom 
is called the kingdom of God, because God's own hand 
sets it up, and maintains it, and rules it, Eph. v. 5. 
Christ, who became obedient to death, to work this 
righteousness, was God as well as man, Phil. ii. 6, 8. 
And this is that righteousness which the Apostle op- 



308 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION" 

poses to his own; that which is in Christ; which he 
had through faith. And this is the righteousness of 
God here, and in other places ; the righteousness which 
is of God by faith, Phil. iii. 9. 

2. God aimed at declaring, in gospel times, His 
righteousness in forgiving sins past, in the time of God's 
forbearance under the Old Testament, Rom. iii. 25, and 
also in justifying those who believe in Christ at pres- 
ent ; for it was by the righteousness of the same Christ, 
that sins were pardoned under (he Old Testament, as 
well as now, Heb. xiii. 8. Christ was the Lamb slain 
from the foundation of the world, Rev. xiii. 8, only the 
righteousness was not actually fulfilled, and revealed 
then, but it was shadowed out then, by the sacrifices, 
ransoms, redemptions, &c. Heb. x. 1, 2, 3, 9, 10. So 
this was a time of God's forbearance : because He par- 
doned sins, as it were, without present payment and 
satisfaction. He had patience, and did not exact the 
debt, until Christ paid all, Matt, xviii. 26. But then 
God promised, that He would reveal His righteousness 
in due time, Isa. lvi. 1, and li. 5, 6, Ps. xcviii. 2, Dan. 
ix. 24. And this He hath done by the appearance of 
Christ, 2 Tim. i. 10. 

Observ. IX. "The end of this manifestation is, that 
God may appear just, in forgiving sins past as well as 
present, and the justifier of him that belie veth in Jesus." 
Here, the essential property of God is exalted, and ap- 
pears glorious, in justifying by the before-mentioned 
righteousness of God. 

1. As God justifies freely by grace, He would appear 
hereby just in justifying sinners; for it would be a 
blemish to God's justice, to forgive without a satisfac- 
tion, and righteousness performed ; and therefore, 
though He be gracious and merciful, yet He will not 
clear the guilty, Exod. xxxiv. 7, Gen. xviii. 25, Exod. 
xxiii. 7, And so the saints of God concluded, that 
God had a righteousness and redemption whereby He 
forgave sin, though it was not then revealed, Ps. li. 14, 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 309 

cxxx. 7, 8, and cxliii. 1, 2. God would have justice 
and mercy to meet in our salvation, Ps. lxxxv. 10. 

2. God would have it appear, that He only is just, 
and therefore saves us, not by our own righteousness, 
but by His ; which is indeed the more exalted by our 
unrighteousness occasionally, though God is not there- 
fore unrighteous in taking vengeance, Rom. iii. 5, Dan. 
ix. 7. 

3. God would appear to be the only procurer and 
worker of our righteousness, and so our justifier by way 
of procurement, as well as by way of judgment ; and 
so He will justify us by a righteousness of His own, and 
not by our own, Isa. liv. 17, and xlv. 22, 24, 25, that 
we may glory in the Lord only. 1 Cor. i. 30, 31. 

Use I. It serves for instruction, by way of en- 
couragement and consolation ; that the great happiness 
of those who are in Christ, is, that their sins are forgiven, 
and they accounted just in the sight of the Judge of all 
the world, through the redemption that is by the blood 
of Christ ; and this benefit contains all blessedness of 
life, and the consequences thereof, Rom. iv. 6. That 
man unto whom God imputes righteousness without 
works, has a blessedness therein, and such an extensive 
blessedness, in regard of the spiritual part, as Abraham 
had, comprehending all spiritual blessings in Christ : 
for they which be of faith, are blessed with faithful 
Abraham, Gal. iii. 9. For this righteousness being the 
fundamental blessing, is revealed from faith to faith, 
and they who are by faith just and justified through 
that righteousness, do live by faith, always receiving it, 
and receiving nourishment and comfort by it, Rom. 
i. 17. 

1. They are delivered from the charge of sin and 
fault before God, Rom. viii. 33, 34, (Tis egkalesei ;) 
" Who shall lay anything to their charge, or be suffer- 
ed to bring in, at God's tribunal, any indictment, charge, 
or accusation against them ? It is God that justifieth 
them; and Christ hath died, and rose again. They are 



310 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God 
and the Lamb. In their mouth there is no guile : and 
they are without fault {a momoi) before the throne of 
God," Rev. xiv. 4, 5. See also Col. i. 22. 

2. They are delivered from all condemnation in sen- 
tence and execution ; the curse and wrath of God, Gal. 
iii. 13: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of 
the law, being made a curse for us." 1 Thess. i. 10: 
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Ps. 
lxxxv. 3 : " Thou hast taken away all thy wrath : thou 
bast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger." 
See ver. 5, 6. The wrath of God is an insupporta- 
ble burden, and the foundation of all miseries ; which 
foundation is razed, and a foundation of blessedness 
laid, whereby we have peace with God, and are fully 
reconciled to God, Rom. v. 1, 2; 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, 
Col. i. 21, 22 : " You that were sometime alienated, 
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now 
hath He reconciled, in the body of His flesh through 
death, to present you holy and unblamable and unre- 
provable in His sight." Now, where there is no blame 
before God, there can be no wrath from God. 

3. They have no need to seek salvation by the 
works of the law ; and so are delivered from a yoke 
that cannot be borne ; from endless observances that 
Pharisees and Papists have heaped up ; from continual 
frights, doubts, fears and terrors by the law, Acts xv. 
10, Rom. viii. 15 ; from a wrath- working law, Rom. iv. 
15 ; from a sin-irritating law, Rom. vii. 5 ; from a kill- 
ing law, a ministration of death and condemnation, 2 
Cor. iii. 6, 7, 9, Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bon- 
dage, Gal. iv. 24. 

4. Hence they are delivered from a condemning con- 
science, which otherwise would still gnaw them as a 
worm, Heb. ix. 14. "If the blood of bulls and of 
goats, and ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, 
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh ; how r much 
more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eter- 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 311 

nal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, purge 
your conscience from dead works, to serve the living 
God." A guilty conscience is a foul conscience ; and 
it will make all services and duties dead works, unfit 
fur the service of the living God : it is the blood of 
Christ, applied by faith, that takes off this foulness of 
guilt from the conscience : therefore the blood of Christ 
has the only efficacy this way, to take off " the con- 
science of sin," Heb. x. 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. Hence they 
come to have a good conscience, 1 Peter iii. 21, void 
of offence towards God, Acts xxiv. 16. 

5. It is an everlasting righteousness ; by which their 
standing in Christ is secured, Dan. ix. 24. It is an 
eternal redemption that is obtained, Heb. ix. 12. Where- 
as, by the law, those that were justified typically, 
might fall under condemnation ; so far as to need an- 
other sacrifice for sin to-morrow ; they had no real pur- 
gation of conscience from sin by those sacrifices ; and 
therefore could not have a lasting delivery of their con- 
sciences from guilt by them. Here it is far otherwise ; 
here is an effectual, complete, and perpetual redemp- 
tion, reaching the conscience of the sinner, and for the 
purging away all sins, past, present, and to come, 1 
John i. 7. 

6. It is a righteousness of infinite value ; because it 
is the righteousness of one that is God : and His name 
is, JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, Jer. xxiii. 
6, Heb. ix. 14. It is therefore more powerful to save, 
than Adam's sin was to destroy or condemn, Rom. r. 
Christ is here the power of God, 1 Cor. i. 24. Hence 
we are powerful, and conquer, by faith. Likewise 
there is a marvellous plenty of mercy and grace, that 
is brought to us by Jehovah our Righteousness, plen- 
teous redemption, Ps. cxxx. 7. It must be most plen- 
tiful, because infinite. Though no creature could satisfy 
for sin, yet Jehovah could do it abundantly ; and there- 
fore, in Christ, God's mercy prevails high above our 
sins, Ps. ciii. 11, 12. 



312 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

7. God's grace and justice are both engaged on our 
behalf in this righteousness. Justice is terrible, and 
seems to be against mercy, and dreadful to natural 
people : but it is otherwise to believers ; it is pacified 
and appeased through this righteousness ; it is satisfied 
by Christ for our sins. Justice becomes our friend, 
joins in with grace; and, instead of pleading against 
us, it is altogether for us ; and it speaks contrary to 
what it speaks to sinners out of Christ, Josh. xxiv. 19, 
20. We may also plead justice for forgiveness through 
mercy in Christ, Rom. hi. 26. 

8. We may be sure of holiness and glory, delivery 
from the power and dominion of sin, as well as the 
charge of it before God, and guilt in our consciences : 
for this was the end of Christ's death, Tit. ii. 14, Rom. 
vi. 14, and viii. 3, 4, 30. "Whom He justified, them 
He also glorified. " The law was the strength of sin ; 
for sin had its title to rule in us by reason of the curse ; 
and thence Satan also rules ; but here is our deliverance 
from sin and Satan, yea from death too, Heb. ii. 14, 15, 
Hos. xiii. 14. And, by the same reason, we are raised, 
by this excellent righteousness, to a better state than 
we had in Adam at first ; for Christ died that we 
might receive the adoption of sons, and the Spirit; 
that we might be brought under a new covenant, and 
be set in the right way of holiness, serving out of love, 
GaJ. iii. 14, 1 John iv. 19, Gal.Tv. 5, Heb. ix. 15, Rom. 
v. 11, Luke i, 74, Col. ii. 13. 

9. We may be sure, hence, of a concurrence of all 
things for our good. AH things shall w r ork for good, 
through grace, to bring us to glory ; because God is for 
us, who is the Creator and governor of all things, Rom. 
viii. 28, 31, 33. God will never be wroth with us, nor 
rebuke us in anger any more, Isa. liv. 9, Rom. v. 2-5. 

10. Hence we may come before God without confu- 
sion of face, yea with boldness to the throne of grace 
in Christ's name, John xiv. 13, 14, and expect all good 
things from Him, Eph. iii. 12. "In whom we have 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 313 

boldness and access with confidence try the faith of Him," 
Heb. x. 22, 23. Let us draw near with full assurance 
of faith. Christ's blood pleads for us in heaven, Heb. 
xii. 24, and we may, and are to plead boldly a satisfac- 
tion on His account. 

11. We live in those times when this righteousness 
is fully revealed, and sin made an end of, Rom. iii. 21, 
22. This is our happiness above those that lived before 
Christ's coming, who were under types and shadows 
of this righteousness ; whereas we have the substance 
in its own light ; and so we are not under the law, 
which they were under as a schoolmaster. We are not 
servants, but sons, called to liberty, Gal. iii. 23, 26, iv. 
7, and v. 13. The preaching the old covenant as a 
church ordinance to be urged, now is ceased ; the law 
is not to be preached now in the same terms as Moses 
preached it, for justification, Rom. x. 5, 6, 7, 8, 2 Cor. 
iii. 6, 7, Gal. iii. 23, 24 ; it is contrary in terms to faith, 
though it were subservient. 

Use II. For examination, whether we be in Christ, 
and have received this justification by faith with all our 
hearts. 

1. Consider, whether you may be really sensible of 
sin, and your condemnation by the law. This is neces- 
sary to make us fly to Christ : and for this as one great 
end, was the law given, Gal. iii. 22, 23, 24, Matt. ix. 
13, Acts ii. 37. Without sense of sin, there will be no 
prizing of Christ, or desire of holiness ; but rather abuse 
of grace to carnal security and licentiousness. Those 
who were stung by the fiery serpent looked up to the 
brazen serpent. 

2. Dost thou trust only upon the free mercy for jus- 
tification in God's sight, renouncing all thy works what- 
ever in this point, as not able to stand in them before 
God's exact justice, crying with the poor publican? 
Perfectionists, and self-righteous persons, have no share 
in this matter, Luke xviii. 13, 14. Paul, notwithstand- 
ing all that the world might think he had to plead for 

27 



314 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

himself, " counted all but dung, that he might win 
Christ, and be found in Him, not having his own right- 
eousness, which is of the law, but that which is through 
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God 
by faith," that is, the redeeming and propitiating right- 
eousness of Christ ; whereby he desired only to be jus- 
tified ; and which he believed in for that end, opposing 
it to anything inherent in himself; which therefore 
he calls his own righteousness, Phil. iii. 7, 8, 9, Rom. 
iv. 5. 

3. Dost thou trust with any confidence on Christ, 
not continuing in a mere suspense ? In a way of mere 
doubting, we can receive no good things from God, 
James i. 6, 7. Mere doubting will not loose the con- 
science from the guilt of sin, Heb. x. 22, but leaves the 
soul under terror. Abraham's confidence is the ex- 
ample and pattern of our justifying faith, that we should 
endeavor to come up to, believing with a fulness of 
persuasion, in hope against hope, Rom. iv. 24. Though 
a believing soul may be assaulted with many doubts, 
yet it fights against them, and does not give up itself 
to the dominion of them, Ps. xlii. 1 1, Mark ix. 24. It 
has always something contrary to them, and striving 
with them. 

4. Dost thou come to Christ for remission of sins, 
for the right end, namely, that thou mayest be freed 
from the dominion of sin before the living God, Heb. 
ix. 14, Ps. cxxx., Tit. ii. 14, 1 Peter ii. 24. If other- 
wise thou dost not receive it for the right end ; and de- 
sirest not really the favor and enjoyment of God, and 
to be in friendship with Him. 

5. Dost thou walk in holiness, and strive to evidence 
this justification by the fruits of faith, in good works? 
If otherwise thy faith is but a dead faith ; for a true 
faith purifieth the heart, Acts xv. 9. If Christ be thine 
He will be sanctification as well as righteousness, 1 
Cor, i. 30, Rom. viii. 1, 9, John xiii. 8. If God has 
taken thee into His favor, He will doubtless cleanse thee. 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 315 

Though faith alone justifies, without the concurrence of 
works to the act of justification, yet that faith is not so 
alone, as not to be accompanied with good works ; as 
the eye alone seeth, yet it is not alone without other 
members ; so the dpostle James declares faith that is 
alone to be dead, and bids us to show our faith by our 
works ; which is to be understood, not as if works were 
the conditions of attaining justification, but sure evi- 
dences of justification attained by faith, and very neces- 
sary, James ii. 14, 15. The Gospel is no covenant of 
works requiring another righteousness for justification 
by doing for life. Works justify us from such accusa- 
tions of men as will deny us to have justification by faith, 
or that we have a true and lively faith, or as good trees, 
Matt. xii. 33, 37, not being our righteousness them- 
selves, or conditions of our having Christ's righteous- 
ness, or qualifying us for it. 

Use III. It serves for exhortation to several duties. 

I. To the wicked. It is a dissuasion to them from 
continuance in sin, under God's wrath, running head- 
long to damnation ; for here is a door of mercy opened 
to them ; a righteousness prepared that they may be 
freely accepted of God. Some men are desperadoes : 
" They have loved strangers, and after them they will 
go," Jer. ii. 25. They are resolved to run the risk of 
it, and please themselves, that they shall speed as well 
as others. And some men would be justified, but seek 
for it in a wrong way. Some will go to the Pope, to 
quiet their consciences by his deceits ; some to their 
own works and performances : but you are exhorted to 
look for the true righteousness. Christ says in the 
Gospel, " Behold me, behold me ;" the kingdom of 
heaven is open ; mercy and righteousness are freely 
offered, Isa. lv. 6, 7, Jer. iii. 12. Repentance is 
preached with remission of sins, Luke xxiv. 57, Acts ii. 
38. Beware you do not neglect this acceptable time, 
this day of salvation, Heb. ii. 1, 3. For, 

(1.) If you do, you remain under the wrath of God, 



316 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

John iii. 36, under the curse of the law; which, like a 
flood, sweeps away all that are found out of this ark, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, Ps. xi. 5, 6. 

(2.) Your condemnation will be aggravated by re- 
fusing so great salvation, Heb. ii. 3, You will have no 
cloak for your sins, when you refuse mercy, John xv. 
22. You cannot say, you are undone by your past 
sins, beyond recovery, and therefore it is in vain to 
strive ; for behold, remission of sins is proclaimed unto 
you, Ezek. xxxiii. 10, 11. And what a horrid sin it is 
to despise the blood of the Son of God, John iii. 8, 36. 

Object. I. " If God justify the ungodly, Rom. iv. 5, 
why need I forsake ungodliness at all ?" Rom. vi. 1. 

Ans. Thou canst not seek justification truly, except 
thou hast a mind to live to God in friendship with Him ; 
for justification is God's way of taking us into friend- 
ship with Him, Rom. v. 1, 2, and of reconciling us, 2 
Cor. v. 19. The use thou art to make of it, is, to seek 
God's friendship by it, and the enjoyment of Him. 
Why doth a man seek a pardon, if he intend to go on in 
rebellion, and stand out in defiance to his prince? 1 
Peter ii. 24. They seek pardon in a mocking way, that 
intend not to return to obedience, Gal. vi. 7, 8. 

Object. II. " My sins are so great, that I have no 
encouragement to hope." 

Ans. Christ's righteousness is for all sorts of sinners 
who believe, whether Jew or Gentile ; and how great 
sinners were of both sorts, Rom. i. ii. and iii. and even 
for those that killed and murdered the Lord of glory, 
Acts ii, 23, 36, 1 Cor. ii. 8 ; for the chief of sinners, 1 
Tim. i. 15, Acts xvi. "Where sin abounds, grace 
superabounds," Rom. v. 29. Your sins are but the 
sins of a creature, but His righteousness is the right- 
eousness of God, John vi. 37, Rom. x. 3, 11, 13. 

Exhort. II. It exhorts those that have a mind to 
turn to God, to turn the right way, by faith in Christ 
for justification. Let them not seek by works, as most 
in the world do, and all are prone to do, Rom. ix. 31, 



OPENED AND APPLIED. 31 7 

32. But this doctrine seems very foolish, yea per- 
nicious to a natural man. " Become a fool that thou 
mayest be wise/' 1 Cor. iii. 18 ; otherwise you will la- 
bor in the fire, and weary yourselves for every vanity, 
and be under continual discomforts and discourage- 
ments : for you can do no good work while you are in 
the flesh, under the law, and its curse, before God have 
received you into favor ; for justification is in order of 
nature before true holiness of heart and life, 1 Tim. i. 5, 
Heb. ix. 14. Faith is the great work and mother duty, 
John vi. 29, Gal. vi. Isa. lv. 2, <fcc. ; and therefore, while 
you believe not, you dishonor Christ and His death, 
Gal. ii. 21, and v. 2, 3, 4. Therefore come boldly, 
though, you have been a great sinner, Acts x. 43, and 
seek righteousness in Christ with holiness, Rom. viii. 1. 

Q. But how shall I get faith ? 

A. Faith is the gift of God, Eph. ii. 8, and by the 
Gospel, Rom. i. 15, 16, 17. Faith cometh by hearing 
the Gospel preached, Rom. x. 17, and that comes, in 
working faith, not in word only, but in power, 1 Thess. 
i. 5, beyond what can be done by natural or human 
attainment, John vi. 63. Therefore, if thou hast no be- 
ginning of it in thee, thy only way is, to attend to the 
Gospel, and to meditate on thy sin and misery, and 
Christ's excellency, that so thou mayest be inclined in 
thy heart to believe, Song i. 3, Gal. ii. 16, Ps. ix. 10; 
for this is the way God uses to beget faith, Isa. lv. 4. 
But if thou hast a desire and inclination to fly from 
thyself to Christ in the bent of thy heart, so that thou 
preferrest Christ above all, then the Spirit has begun, 
and will carry on the work : so that now thou mayest 
pray confidently for faith, Song i. 4, Luke xi. 13, Mark 
xi. 34, 

Object. III. " But without holiness no man shall see 
the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. And how shall I get holiness? 
I cannot sanctify myself; and this confidence you speak 
of, may slacken my diligence." 

Ans. If thou hast righteousness in Christ, God will 
27* 



318 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION 

make thee holy ; and this confidence is the only way to 
get holiness, because of that righteousness, Rom. v. 21. 
The new covenant, which promises a new heart, is con- 
firmed in Him. If sin be forgiven, thou shalt be de- 
livered from its power, and quickened by the same 
death and resurrection of Christ, whereby thou art jus- 
tified, Col. ii. 12, 13. 

Exhort. III. It exhorts them that are justified by 
faith, 

1. To walk humbly, as being nothing of themselves; 
to acknowledge themselves enemies to God by nature, 
and acknowledge their sins in the greatness and hein- 
ousness of them ; that they are saved freely by the 
righteousness of another, not by their own ; yea, that 
they are so far fallen that the justice of God would 
have been against them, if it had not been satisfied, Ps. 
lxxi. 16, Rom. hi. 27, but now they see that Christ has 
satisfied, and His righteousness is above their sins, Ezek. 
xxxvi. 31. 

2. To praise and glorify God through Christ for His 
grace. Oh what abundant grace and love appears in 
God's washing and cleansing us by His Son's blood ! 
Rev. i. 5, Gal. ii. 20, and in making His Son sin and a 
curse for us, Rom. v. 5, 8, 1 John iv. 9, 10, and hi. 16, 
2 Cor. viii. 9, and what a glorious and excellent right- 
eousness has God given us in Christ ! Isa. xi. 10. 

3. To walk comfortably, on account of this right- 
eousness, Isa. xl. 1, 2. Triumph over sin and afflic- 
tion, Rom. viii. 33, 39. Be confident in expecting 
great things from God, Heb. x. 22, for, though you 
may be unworthy, and grace will show you your own 
unworthiness, yet you stand upon the righteousness of 
Christ. Glory in the hope of God's glory ; for if 
Christ died to reconcile you when you were enemies, 
much more will He save you by his life, now you are 
reconciled, Rom. v. 3, 10. Ask boldly for what you 
want : for God is in Christ's manhood as the mercy- 
seat. Whenever sin stings you, and objections trouble 






OPENED AND APPLIED. 319 

you, look to the brazen serpent ; confess sin and trust 
for pardon ; meditate on Christ's righteousness, and the 
abundance of grace in Him, Rom. viii. 32. If you 
find ever so much ungodliness, no good qualifications ; 
yet Christ is at hand for your comfort, Isa. 1. 10, 2, 
Thess. ii. 16, 17. In all your sins, apply yourselves to 
this fountain, Zech. xiii. 1 John i. 7. If sin lie on the 
conscience, it weakens peace and spiritual strength. 
Lie not under guilt with a slavish fear ; you have a 
righteousness, to deliver you from it ; apply it by faith 
that you may have no more conscience of sin as con- 
demning, Heb. x. 2, Psal. xxxii. You have a better 
righteousness than any perfectionists can have. 

4. Hold fast this way of justification, notwithstand- 
ing all the noise that is made in the world against it ; 
for the devil will strive to scare you out of it, or steal 
it from you ; as he did from the Jews, from the Gala- 
tians, the Papists, and many Protestants, Gal. i. 6, 
and the Apostle reckons it is by a spiritual bewitchery. 
He will strive to get you to trust on works, and tell 
you, it is for the promoting of holiness, and to trust on 
works to get Christ, and to lay works lowest in the 
foundation. If you lose this righteousness of Christ, 
under any color or pretence whatever, you lose all, 
Gal. v. 2, 3. Do not so dishonor Christ, as to think 
of procuring that by works which you have fully in 
Christ. Think not that the Gospel requires any other 
justification to gain this ; for the Gospel is no legal cov- 
enant, but a declaration of the righteousness of faith ; 
and we, being justified, are heirs by adoption and prom- 
ise. Gal. iii. 25, 26, and iv. V. This is the doctrine 
which glorifies God and abases the creature; which is 
a great mark of its truth. Beware, therefore, of carnal 
reason ; which will go quite contrary, and make Christ's 
righteousness a stumbling-stone to thee, 2 Pet. ii. 8, 
Rom. ix. 32, 33. 

5. Walk as one that enjoys the favor of God in 
Christ. Let him have the honor of it. Walk there- 



320 THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION. 

fore in holiness, knowing by what price you are re 
deemed, 1 Pet. i. 17, 18, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, 2 Pet. i. 
5, 11, 1 Cor. vi. 20. Love God who has loved you 
first, 1 John iv. 19, Psal. cxvi. 16. Believe that God 
will enable you for the practice of holiness, Rom. vi. 
14. Particularly, walk in love to the saints ; exercise 
forgiveness to your enemies. Sense of your own sins, 
and God's forgiving you, will cause you to pity and 
forgive others ; else you cannot pray or trust forgive- 
ness of your own sins upon reasonable grounds, Eph. 
iv. 31, 32, Matt. vi. 14, 15, and xviii. 21. Desire that 
grace may be exalted upon others ; and wait patiently 
for the full declaration 'of justification at the great day, 
Gal. v. 5, Acts iii. 19, for here your justification is 
known only by faith : but in outward things you are 
dealt with as a sinner ; then your righteousness shall 
appear openly, and you shall be dealt with according 
to it. 



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